Tactics Ogre: Reborn – How Elements Work

An explanation in lay man’s terms of how elements work in Tactics Ogre Reborn.

Elements Work Explanatory Guide

All credit goes to charles leshrac!

Stat Overhead

This is a term we will use to articulate how damage is calculated.

In general, the damage formula is calculated as below:

• ((Attacker’s STR + DEX) – (Defender’s STR + VIT)) + (Attacker’s Weapon ATK – Defender’s Equipment DEF).

Spells use a similar damage formula except INT and MND are used (and RES is used instead of DEF).

The bolded part is what we’ll call stat overhead.

As a caveat, the equation above is also an oversimplification. Different modifiers are applied depending on the specific weapon or spell used.

For example, the full formula for dagger users would be the following:

• ((Attacker’s 1.5 STR + 1.6 DEX) – (Defender’s 1.0 STR + 1.0 VIT)) + ((Attacker’s Weapon ATK) x 1.2) – ((Defender’s DEF) x 1.0)).

Unit Affinity vs Unit Affinity

The first modifier where elements come into play is Unit Affinity vs Unity Affinity.

If the attacker’s element is strong against the defender’s element, they gain a bonus (30%) to the stat overhead.

If the attacker’s element is weak against the defender’s element, they gain a penalty (10%) to the stat overhead.

Action vs Unit Affinity

The various actions a unit can take (e.g. making an attack, using a finisher, etc.) also uses the elements in its damage calculation. This is independent from Unit Affinity vs Unit Affinity (so those mechanics stack with these).

Basic Attack vs Unit Affinity

If the attacker’s weapon element is strong against the defender’s element, apply the weapon’s elemental damage bonus (as a percentage) to the stat overhead.

Finisher vs Unit Affinity

If the attacker’s Finisher element is strong against the defender’s element, apply a 100% bonus to the stat overhead. This is not applicable to Dark Knight unique finishers (e.g. Ozma’s Demon Rose).

Spell vs Unit Affinity

If the spell’s element is strong against the defender’s element, apply the weapon’s elemental damage (as a percentage) bonus to the stat overhead.

Known bugs: Currently, spellcasters don’t get to apply any bonuses[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] (including elemental damage bonuses) from their weapon if they are either wielding a two-handed weapon or wielding a one-handed weapon and nothing in the offhand.

This is circumvented by having another item (e.g. shields) equipped on the offhand (bonuses on the offhand will not apply). For RT-saving (and AI team builds) purposes, consider using a generic Cursed Dagger (i.e. no units sacrificed to modify the weapon) on the offhand for such purposes.

Elemental Resistances

Elemental resistances apply their bonuses (as a percentage) the stat overhead in the following Action vs Unit Affinity scenarios (that we know of):

• If the attacker’s Action element is strong against the defender’s Unit Affinity, the defender’s Elemental Resistance that will apply is the element that is strong against the former’s element (i.e. it will check the defender’s equipment for which element to use). This cannot reduce the attacker’s bonus to below 0 (i.e. if the elemental resistance > the damage bonus, this will reduce the damage bonus to 0).
• If the attacker’s Action element is weak against the defender’s Unit Affinity, the defender’s Elemental Resistance that will apply is the element that matches the defender’s affinity.

Instill Elements

In general, the Instill Elements spell provides two buffs:

• Attuned grants resistance (15%) to its corresponding element (e.g. fire attuned grants fire resistance).
• Touched grants a bonus (25%) second attack damage (that does not change the weapon’s elemental type).

“Elemental” Armors

The tooltips from various elemental armors are erroneous. They do not provide a bonus to damage (The tooltips were taken from Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune, which had different mechanics.).