Aniimo combat roles: shared energy, presets and rules

Aniimo have elemental affinities, and each one fills a single combat role chosen from five: DPS, Break, Heal, Support and Regen. The role is permanent. A healer stays a healer however you train it, so if your roster is short of a role, the fix is catching a different Aniimo, not reworking one you already have.

The role list is not presented the same way everywhere in the game. Alongside DPS, Heal, Regen, Support and Break, the set also appears as DPS, heal, buff, break and debuff. In practice the two overlap: the buff and debuff work in that second list is what the Support role covers in the first.

Role is not the whole story. Different Aniimo have their own appearances, attack patterns and playstyles, so two creatures sharing a role can still feel very different in your hands. The role tells you what a creature is for. The creature tells you how it does it.

Bosses carry a break shield, shown beneath their health bar. Break is the role built to empty it. A Break Aniimo specialises in depleting that shield, which is the enemy's posture, and when it runs out the enemy staggers.

That stagger is the point of the whole team. DPS Aniimo exist to deal high damage, and that damage is amplified during the enemy's break window. A Break Aniimo does not need to top the damage chart to be the most important creature on the team; it is the one that opens the window everyone else is waiting for.

This is also why the team should not be all damage. Without a breaker, your DPS is hitting a boss that never staggers, and never gets the amplified window it is built around.

Support Aniimo buff allies, provide utility, and interfere with enemies through debuffs and similar effects. Their value depends heavily on timing, and the timing is set by the break gauge.

The rule is simple. Reapply your support buffs just before the break gauge empties. That way, when the enemy staggers and your DPS starts its burst, every buff is already up and the amplified damage is amplified again. A buff that lands halfway through the window wastes the half before it.

Not all support is about numbers. Smoke Screen, for example, covers an area in smoke that blocks targeting through it. You can use it to escape, or to catch enemies off guard.

Heal and Regen are two of the five fixed roles, and healing is one of the jobs a balanced team is expected to cover alongside damage, break and support. A team that skips sustain has nothing to fall back on when a fight runs long.

The roles matter more when you are behind on levels. Fighting opponents of a significantly higher level cuts the damage you deal by a large amount and raises the damage you take, because underleveled fights hand enemies damage multipliers and resistances. In that situation your DPS hits softer and the team takes more punishment, which is exactly when sustain earns its slot. It is not a substitute for levelling, though. The penalty applies however well your roles are balanced.

Combat also does not stop for loot. Enemies can attack you while you are opening chests or interacting with loot containers, so clear the area before you go for the reward.

Each Aniimo can equip up to two regular combat skills of your choosing plus one ultimate, giving it three active abilities at any time. Ultimates cost a large amount of ultimate points, which have to build up before you can fire one, so they are a payoff to save for rather than an opener. A natural place to spend one is the break window. Unlocked Prismana skills can be taught to the standard form and other members of the same family through the Skills section of the Training menu.

The Aniimo in the assist slot can use only its core skill, and that is what the Alt swap shortcut triggers. Pick an assist whose core skill is useful on its own, because it is the only thing that creature will contribute from there.

Team size is not settled. It is shown as four Aniimo in slots 1 to 4 on the right of the screen, and also given as three active Aniimo. Either way the slots are few, which makes covering several roles a real choice rather than a formality.

You can configure up to eight preset battle party rosters and switch between them during exploration, swapping loadouts on the fly. That is the practical answer to fixed roles: rather than one team that does everything, keep a boss team built around a breaker and buffed DPS, and others for whatever else you run into. Aniimo you place in the explore tab are separate again. They take traversal roles, summoned automatically to climb, swim or fly, and do not count against your combat roster.

06Where to start

Build every team around the break window. Bring a Break Aniimo to empty the boss's shield, a DPS to cash in the stagger, and Support with buffs timed to land just before the gauge empties. Cover healing so the fight lasts long enough to get there. Since no creature can change its role, use the eight preset slots to keep teams for different jobs, and stay close to enemy levels, because no team composition makes up for being badly underleveled.