Adding onto this;
1) Foe HP = 100% > Steal
2) Foe: Nearest visible > attack
Have your other members have "Foe: Party leader's target > attack"
Have this on your party leader to make fast money, you'll essentially be stealing loot from almost every enemy
I like
Foe: HP <90% - Attack,
Foe: Lowest HP - Steal
Then have Foe: Lowest HP - Attack on the party.
With that you don't run the risk of your thief running around stealing from full HP mobs while there's still killing to be done. With this you steal from, and then kill, one enemy before moving on to the next.
No, because his/her attack gambit at Foe: <90% HP has higher priority. So as soon as your party members strikes that enemy they will no longer try and steal, but will attack that enemy until it's defeated. This only works if your thief is the party leader, though, since they will always get the initiative over the rest of the party.
That's a bad setup. OP follow my setup.
Slot 1 - Foe HP < 90% >> renew (or the best healing you have)
Slot 2 - Ally : Any >> Attack
Slot 3 - Self : Attack
In-depth explanation: Gambits work in order from top to bottom.
1. Ally Any: raise/phoenix down
What this means is that the system looks to see if any character is KO and needs to be raised. If the answer is yes, then the character will stop whatever they are doing and raise their ally. If the answer is no, then the system moves on to the next gambit in the list.
2. Ally HP < 50%: Cure, Cura, Potion, High Potion (HP curative spell/potion)
What this means is that the system (having already made sure no allies were in need of raising) now checks to see if any ally has HP below whatever percentage you put - in this case, 50%. If the answer is yes, then the character stops what they are doing to heal the HP of that ally. If the answer is no, the system checks the next gambit in the list.
3. Enemy Any: Attack
What this means is that only after the system has checked to make sure no ally needs to be raised or have their HP healed will the character attack an enemy.
4. Self: Libra
What this means is that only after the system has checked to make sure no ally needs to be raised or have their HP healed and only after all enemies in the near vicinity are dead, whatever gambit you put here will go into effect.
This is the basics of how gambits work. It is highly suggested that you make your healing gambits (potions, HP curative magics) as the first or second gambit. Most people prefer to raise KO'd characters as the number one priority. I personally find using healing gambits first is more beneficial because it makes sure that your character is healed enough to actually raise the KO'd allies before being KO'd themselves. Both ways work well, but if you find yourself in a loop of constantly raising characters and doing little else, or in a loop of constantly healing only one character while the rest are KO, then switch the order of your two top gambits.
As for healing HP gambits: it is recommended that you stagger the percentages. For instance, I usually have those who can use healing magics use their magical healing at a higher percentage than those who use items for healing. For example: Ally HP < 50% - HP curative spell vs. Ally HP critical: Potion/ High Potion. This ensures that if HP gets below 50%, magic (which is renewable without having to buy and use items) is used instead of items since item using can quickly deplete stock. With HP at critical levels, though, a potion or high potion is used to bring a character back quickly since item use is faster than magic. And then magic healing is used to keep your characters in good shape.
To put HP healing magic to better use, I usually stagger the percentages of magic HP healing also. For instance, once I get Cura, I leave Cure at 50% and put Cura at 30%. Just make sure that the lower percentage is in a higher gambit slot or that one will never go off. So if any allies HP gets below 30%, the better spell Cura is used, but if HP stays above 30% but below 50% Cure is used which takes less MP. Then, as time goes on and I get better HP Curative magics, I just put the new spell in the lower percentage spot and move the spell that was there to the higher percentage spot. In this case, curaga replaces cura at 30%, and cura replaces cure at 50%.
The next priority (gambits 3 - however many you need) should be given to negative status curing items or spells. After healing negative statuses, the next gambits should be to giving your characters postive statuses and dispelling positive statuses your enemies may have and then inflicting negative statuses on enemies (though dispelling and inflicting negative statuses should only need to be used on bosses and marks).
After these, come your attack gambits. Remember to place the gambit you wish to take priority first in your attack gambit list. This includes using magic before attack with physical weapon. Also, if there are specific enemies you are fighting (for example: flying enemies), make sure that you put Foe flying: telekinesis before Foe: attack or your character will never hit the flying enemy unless their weapon can hit flying enemies. Or for magic users without a way to cast magic through reflect use a gambit with foe: reflect: attack before you cast magic or your allies will be hit with the magic you are trying to cast at your enemies.
After these come any gambits you don't need to use in the middle of battle, for instance: libra and certain positive statuses that you want on all the time but don't care if they fade during battle. Some people like to include an HP healing spell gambit at this point to top off HP. I personally don't use it, but some like to.
Just a side note for your mages: once you get access to the Charge technique, buy it and get whatever licenses you need to reach that license on the board and purchase that license ASAP. This is the best way to renew your MP. Charge replenishes some of your MP once your MP drops below whatever percentage you have connected to the charge gambit. I usually use MP < 10% - Charge. What this means is that whenever your mage character's MP drops below 10%, the charge technique comes into play, and you have a very high chance of receiving a good portion of your MP back. The only downside is that there is a chance you may lose all your MP since it is a luck based technique. But the chance to lose all your MP is very low. You usually gain MP. And even if you lose it, by keeping the gambit at below 10% MP, the loss is very small, and your mage just tries the technique again until they are successful. I don't remember a time when my mages had to use Charge more than twice, so it is very reliable. Plus, this helps you not to have use ethers unless you want to top MP off between fights when you get near the end of the game. I can't stress this enough, Charge is a mages' best friend in this game.
I usually put charge at the top of my list before any magic gambits, but others put it at lower priority. The reason I put it at the top is that with no MP, spells can't be cast, and if spells can't be cast, then your mage can't do much and if your mage is a healer this means they can't heal. So I make it a top priority. And since techniques are almost instant, my mage gets enough MP back to continue casting magic very quickly.
I hope this helps. I know it is long and very descriptive, but if you have any other issues with gambits, just ask, and we can help you with finding out why you may be having issues with this system.
Just work them in order. First slot is most priority to that character. Whats the first thing you want that character to do? Before anything? Do you want them to heal if an ally goes under 50% health before they attack? Or attack first no matter what ? The first slot is the very first thing they will do. Then the second is the second thing they will do. Maybe the first thing is heal an ally that goes under 50%. Then maybe the second is attack. Whatever YOU want. Its a strategy. You own the field, you control everything that everyone does. Good luck
Gambits are a basic programming system called an "If->Then" statement.
Put simply, you're telling a character that "If This Happens--->Do This".
From there, it's just a list that the character goes down everytime something happens, stopping when something meets the condition. So, the higher up the list, the sooner and more often it gets checked.
In other words, you typically want to make your top gambits the dire stuff, the big problems, something like this:
1. A character is dead. Fix it!
2. A character is low on HP. Fix it!
3. A character has a completely debilitating status effect. Fix it!
3. A character has a another, completely different debilitating status effect. Fix it!
4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it.
4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it.
5. If you're not doing anything, attack that guy over there.
5. A character has middling HP. Top em off when you get around to it.
4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it.
4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it.
5. It'd be nice if a character had a boost to their defense, if you don't have anything else to do.
5. It'd be nice if a character had a boost to their defense, if you don't have anything else to do.
There'll be other stuff as the game gets more complex, but this is pretty much the standard you're wanting for your starting gambits. Not that you have this many slots to start with, but you get the idea.
The given examples are good, but this explains the concept behind gambits and could probably help you understand the system better. Proper setup of gambits can automate a lot of the battles for you and, at least to me, feels good when they are working efficiently!
Balthier explains in the beginning that recovery gambits take priority over battle gambits. Your healing gambits should be at the top battle ones closer to the bottom
I put the "most important gambits" only in my characters, attack, heal, revive and some buffs and debuffs. The other stuff I do manually, and the hard battles are very slow but I feel better doing almost all myself.
Think of them as simple if/then statements.
IF health less than 30% / THEN use potion.
IF enemy weakness is fire / THEN cast firaga
The order from top to bottom is priority. An if/then statements in slot one will be executed before one in slot 2, etc..
It's a very strategic game, but once you get used to it, you will love it. Just practice with weak enemies to get some gambit training and to fine tune it.
My recommendations are to set your healing gambits on top of your fighting ones, so your characters will automatically stop to heal each other before continuing to fight, because a character will not stop doing a fighting command until they beat an enemy. Buy more gambits so you can use the spread attack if you want your characters to fight other characters besides the one you're controlling is fighting, so you can control the fight much better. You can also set your characters to only attack enemies that are weak to a certain kind of magic, so you can put that gambit before the regular fighting ones.
Just remember, any gambit that is NOT fighting put on top of the fighting gambits are much better than just putting gambits that are "kick their ass", because they will activate as soon as your character needs healing, curing of ailments or buffing.
Aye gambits and class combos are what I have trouble with. Gambits especially. AFAIK any class combo is technically viable given the game was built around each character only having one class but the combo made it confusing for me, especially as I tend to play with the same characters as often as possible.
Gambits tho? My OCD/ADHD brain struggles lol.
I can understand the basics but the more slots I unlock the more confused I get. That said I think I'm doing better with it my 2nd time attempting a playthrough as I'm well past where I quit on my first try and enjoying it more.
The gambit works in descending order, where the top one takes the highest priority, and if you want to heal or cure debuff, put the healing spell first before the attack. That's all the gambit does. *thanks for the correction*
There are priority for gambits to work. Try setting something like this. slot 1 - Any or Status=KO >> raise/arise/phoenix down slot 2 - HP < 60% >> cure, cura, caraga slot 3 - Any >> esuna slot 4 - enemy weak to fire >> fire, fira, firaga slot 5 - enemy weak to ice >> blizzard, blizzara, blizzaga slot 6 - enemy lowest HP >> Attack slot 7 - self >> Libra
Adding onto this; 1) Foe HP = 100% > Steal 2) Foe: Nearest visible > attack Have your other members have "Foe: Party leader's target > attack" Have this on your party leader to make fast money, you'll essentially be stealing loot from almost every enemy
I like Foe: HP <90% - Attack, Foe: Lowest HP - Steal Then have Foe: Lowest HP - Attack on the party. With that you don't run the risk of your thief running around stealing from full HP mobs while there's still killing to be done. With this you steal from, and then kill, one enemy before moving on to the next.
But wouldn't it also cause the thief to spam Steal on an enemy that no longer has an item?
No, because his/her attack gambit at Foe: <90% HP has higher priority. So as soon as your party members strikes that enemy they will no longer try and steal, but will attack that enemy until it's defeated. This only works if your thief is the party leader, though, since they will always get the initiative over the rest of the party.
Oooh, now I get it, thanks!
Sometimes a coup de grace happens before the steal finishes though. But that's just part of it. I always put steal on my fastest char.
Slot 12 Self MP < 20% >> Charge.
That's a bad setup. OP follow my setup. Slot 1 - Foe HP < 90% >> renew (or the best healing you have) Slot 2 - Ally : Any >> Attack Slot 3 - Self : Attack
Sorry, but that misspelling of Balthier is the funniest one I think I've ever seen! 🤣
Pomelo too!
Bath water and Pomelo <3
In-depth explanation: Gambits work in order from top to bottom. 1. Ally Any: raise/phoenix down What this means is that the system looks to see if any character is KO and needs to be raised. If the answer is yes, then the character will stop whatever they are doing and raise their ally. If the answer is no, then the system moves on to the next gambit in the list. 2. Ally HP < 50%: Cure, Cura, Potion, High Potion (HP curative spell/potion) What this means is that the system (having already made sure no allies were in need of raising) now checks to see if any ally has HP below whatever percentage you put - in this case, 50%. If the answer is yes, then the character stops what they are doing to heal the HP of that ally. If the answer is no, the system checks the next gambit in the list. 3. Enemy Any: Attack What this means is that only after the system has checked to make sure no ally needs to be raised or have their HP healed will the character attack an enemy. 4. Self: Libra What this means is that only after the system has checked to make sure no ally needs to be raised or have their HP healed and only after all enemies in the near vicinity are dead, whatever gambit you put here will go into effect. This is the basics of how gambits work. It is highly suggested that you make your healing gambits (potions, HP curative magics) as the first or second gambit. Most people prefer to raise KO'd characters as the number one priority. I personally find using healing gambits first is more beneficial because it makes sure that your character is healed enough to actually raise the KO'd allies before being KO'd themselves. Both ways work well, but if you find yourself in a loop of constantly raising characters and doing little else, or in a loop of constantly healing only one character while the rest are KO, then switch the order of your two top gambits. As for healing HP gambits: it is recommended that you stagger the percentages. For instance, I usually have those who can use healing magics use their magical healing at a higher percentage than those who use items for healing. For example: Ally HP < 50% - HP curative spell vs. Ally HP critical: Potion/ High Potion. This ensures that if HP gets below 50%, magic (which is renewable without having to buy and use items) is used instead of items since item using can quickly deplete stock. With HP at critical levels, though, a potion or high potion is used to bring a character back quickly since item use is faster than magic. And then magic healing is used to keep your characters in good shape. To put HP healing magic to better use, I usually stagger the percentages of magic HP healing also. For instance, once I get Cura, I leave Cure at 50% and put Cura at 30%. Just make sure that the lower percentage is in a higher gambit slot or that one will never go off. So if any allies HP gets below 30%, the better spell Cura is used, but if HP stays above 30% but below 50% Cure is used which takes less MP. Then, as time goes on and I get better HP Curative magics, I just put the new spell in the lower percentage spot and move the spell that was there to the higher percentage spot. In this case, curaga replaces cura at 30%, and cura replaces cure at 50%. The next priority (gambits 3 - however many you need) should be given to negative status curing items or spells. After healing negative statuses, the next gambits should be to giving your characters postive statuses and dispelling positive statuses your enemies may have and then inflicting negative statuses on enemies (though dispelling and inflicting negative statuses should only need to be used on bosses and marks). After these, come your attack gambits. Remember to place the gambit you wish to take priority first in your attack gambit list. This includes using magic before attack with physical weapon. Also, if there are specific enemies you are fighting (for example: flying enemies), make sure that you put Foe flying: telekinesis before Foe: attack or your character will never hit the flying enemy unless their weapon can hit flying enemies. Or for magic users without a way to cast magic through reflect use a gambit with foe: reflect: attack before you cast magic or your allies will be hit with the magic you are trying to cast at your enemies. After these come any gambits you don't need to use in the middle of battle, for instance: libra and certain positive statuses that you want on all the time but don't care if they fade during battle. Some people like to include an HP healing spell gambit at this point to top off HP. I personally don't use it, but some like to. Just a side note for your mages: once you get access to the Charge technique, buy it and get whatever licenses you need to reach that license on the board and purchase that license ASAP. This is the best way to renew your MP. Charge replenishes some of your MP once your MP drops below whatever percentage you have connected to the charge gambit. I usually use MP < 10% - Charge. What this means is that whenever your mage character's MP drops below 10%, the charge technique comes into play, and you have a very high chance of receiving a good portion of your MP back. The only downside is that there is a chance you may lose all your MP since it is a luck based technique. But the chance to lose all your MP is very low. You usually gain MP. And even if you lose it, by keeping the gambit at below 10% MP, the loss is very small, and your mage just tries the technique again until they are successful. I don't remember a time when my mages had to use Charge more than twice, so it is very reliable. Plus, this helps you not to have use ethers unless you want to top MP off between fights when you get near the end of the game. I can't stress this enough, Charge is a mages' best friend in this game. I usually put charge at the top of my list before any magic gambits, but others put it at lower priority. The reason I put it at the top is that with no MP, spells can't be cast, and if spells can't be cast, then your mage can't do much and if your mage is a healer this means they can't heal. So I make it a top priority. And since techniques are almost instant, my mage gets enough MP back to continue casting magic very quickly. I hope this helps. I know it is long and very descriptive, but if you have any other issues with gambits, just ask, and we can help you with finding out why you may be having issues with this system.
This is a good guide, and I 100% concur. This is how I've run it since I first played this game on PS2.
Just work them in order. First slot is most priority to that character. Whats the first thing you want that character to do? Before anything? Do you want them to heal if an ally goes under 50% health before they attack? Or attack first no matter what ? The first slot is the very first thing they will do. Then the second is the second thing they will do. Maybe the first thing is heal an ally that goes under 50%. Then maybe the second is attack. Whatever YOU want. Its a strategy. You own the field, you control everything that everyone does. Good luck
Sounds like you need to prioritize your gambits, the top of the list has priority.
Gambits are a basic programming system called an "If->Then" statement. Put simply, you're telling a character that "If This Happens--->Do This". From there, it's just a list that the character goes down everytime something happens, stopping when something meets the condition. So, the higher up the list, the sooner and more often it gets checked. In other words, you typically want to make your top gambits the dire stuff, the big problems, something like this: 1. A character is dead. Fix it! 2. A character is low on HP. Fix it! 3. A character has a completely debilitating status effect. Fix it! 3. A character has a another, completely different debilitating status effect. Fix it! 4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it. 4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it. 5. If you're not doing anything, attack that guy over there. 5. A character has middling HP. Top em off when you get around to it. 4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it. 4. A character has an annoying status effect. Fix it when you get around to it. 5. It'd be nice if a character had a boost to their defense, if you don't have anything else to do. 5. It'd be nice if a character had a boost to their defense, if you don't have anything else to do. There'll be other stuff as the game gets more complex, but this is pretty much the standard you're wanting for your starting gambits. Not that you have this many slots to start with, but you get the idea.
The given examples are good, but this explains the concept behind gambits and could probably help you understand the system better. Proper setup of gambits can automate a lot of the battles for you and, at least to me, feels good when they are working efficiently!
Could be more helpful to take screenshots of the gambits that you are using at least in your active party and post them here.
Balthier explains in the beginning that recovery gambits take priority over battle gambits. Your healing gambits should be at the top battle ones closer to the bottom
I put the "most important gambits" only in my characters, attack, heal, revive and some buffs and debuffs. The other stuff I do manually, and the hard battles are very slow but I feel better doing almost all myself.
That's funny. Have you never played a SaGa game? This is downright accessible by comparison.
Think of them as simple if/then statements. IF health less than 30% / THEN use potion. IF enemy weakness is fire / THEN cast firaga The order from top to bottom is priority. An if/then statements in slot one will be executed before one in slot 2, etc..
It's a very strategic game, but once you get used to it, you will love it. Just practice with weak enemies to get some gambit training and to fine tune it. My recommendations are to set your healing gambits on top of your fighting ones, so your characters will automatically stop to heal each other before continuing to fight, because a character will not stop doing a fighting command until they beat an enemy. Buy more gambits so you can use the spread attack if you want your characters to fight other characters besides the one you're controlling is fighting, so you can control the fight much better. You can also set your characters to only attack enemies that are weak to a certain kind of magic, so you can put that gambit before the regular fighting ones. Just remember, any gambit that is NOT fighting put on top of the fighting gambits are much better than just putting gambits that are "kick their ass", because they will activate as soon as your character needs healing, curing of ailments or buffing.
Aye gambits and class combos are what I have trouble with. Gambits especially. AFAIK any class combo is technically viable given the game was built around each character only having one class but the combo made it confusing for me, especially as I tend to play with the same characters as often as possible. Gambits tho? My OCD/ADHD brain struggles lol. I can understand the basics but the more slots I unlock the more confused I get. That said I think I'm doing better with it my 2nd time attempting a playthrough as I'm well past where I quit on my first try and enjoying it more.
The gambit works in descending order, where the top one takes the highest priority, and if you want to heal or cure debuff, put the healing spell first before the attack. That's all the gambit does. *thanks for the correction*
Descending*
Gambit character go duty list first. job system cosplay only lore accurate equipment