Arks are special sets of gear that grant bonus attributes and stats to your units. They can only have one equipped at a time, and spend soul energy when deployed into a stage.
The stats boosts and attributes are good, but the most important part of Arks are the skills that they grant you. An Ark can have up to six skills, and when a unit wins a battle with the Ark equipped, they will gain Ark Skill Points (AP) for the unlocked skills.
When a unit gains enough AP to master a skill, they permanently learn the skill and have access to it even when they do not have the Ark equipped. Each skill has a different AP rate, which means that they learn at different rates.
To learn all of the skills an Ark can offer, you must first level up the Ark. As mentioned before, you need a large amount of souls to level up an Ark. Leveling up Arks increases the amount of bonus stats, but it also increases the cost of taking the Ark with you into battle.
When a unit has learned all they can on an Ark, it is best to move that Ark to another unit so that they can start mastering the skills on it.
Break bosses and use damaging specials
The basics of Last Cloudia's battle system is to attack, attack, attack! No, seriously, relentlessly attacking the enemy is the best way to keep them under control. Use your skills often and keep the enemy pressured to prevent them from retaliating.
This is a different story with bosses. Most bosses do not stagger when you attack them, leaving them free to attack at will. You will take heavy damage most of the time, but that is okay, as the break gauge leaves you a big chance to counter attack.
Attack the boss as much as possible to deplete the break gauge. The more damage you do, the faster the break gauge empties. Bosses take extreme damage when broken, so what you should do is save up all your skills and specials if you have them. Kyle's Final Braver does massive damage to broken bosses, so try to save it for that occasion!
Complete all three stars in a stage for crystals
Each stage in Last Cloudia features three star objectives for you to complete. Completing a star objective will net you crystals, and completing all three of them will net you hundred crystals. You need as many crystals as possible to perform the Gacha summons for better Arks!
Complete the sub quests
Some areas on the world map may contain sub quests, optional quests that reveal a little more about the story. They do not need to be completed in order to move on, but it is recommended to do so anyways as they offer good rewards. Of course, it is also another opportunity to get more crystals, the premium currency of the game. You can never have enough of those!
Equip your units with some gear
After you leave the first island, you will come across a shop that sells gear. Every unit can equip a weapon, armor, and two accessories. Gear provides stat boosts, so they are very helpful in powering up your team.
Be sure to buy some gear as soon as you can. It is quite the zell investment, but after you have upgraded a Soul Spot, start saving your zell to buy some equipment.
Level up Soul Spots
The flashing fountains on the world map are Soul Spots. These are areas that are bursting with soul energy, and you can collect it here once the allotted time passes. You can spend Zell to increase the amount of souls it generates and the maximum capacity.
Leveling up Soul Spots is really important because soul energy does double duty in this game. Soul energy doubles as currency and this game's "stamina" system. To bring Arks with you into battle, you need a certain amount of soul energy. Most Arks costs blue souls, but some take red.
Arks also require a LOT of souls to upgrade them, so you are going to need a lot of blue souls. Upgrade as many Soul Spots as you come across!
Unlock abilities often
As you progress through the main story, you will accumulate a bunch of Crystallite Fragments. These are the materials you need in order to unlock new nodes on a unit's ability board.
On the ability board, there really is no one "right" way to go - it is all about what you want that character to get first. You will eventually be able to unlock all of the abilities on the board, so it is simply a matter of deciding what to go for first.
In general, if you are ever unsure of what to work towards next, it is always a good idea to unlock as many skills as you can. Skills are denoted by special icons, so they are easy to make out in the sea of nodes. Unlocking new ability nodes to improve your stats is a good way to improve your odds of success!
Use elemental advantages
Every unit and enemy in Last Cloudia has elemental resistances and weaknesses. When you switch targets mid-battle, you can see what an enemy's weaknesses are. You can use skills and magic to hit their weakness, dealing lots of damage.
Be careful - the same can happen to you! All of your units have elements that they are resistant to elements they are weak to. Pay attention to the kinds of enemies you facing, and adjust your team accordingly.
Use magic and utility specials
The game skips over this, but some units have access to magic. Magic is split into offensive and defensive magic, like Fei's Thunderbolt and Lilebette's Heal. Magic can provide some additional damage, but try to only use magic if you can hit the enemy's weakness.
Defensive magic can help turn the tide if your party is taking a beating. Healing magic can cure wounded units and help them get right back into the fight, and there are also spells that can cure negative conditions.
Magic is very useful, but remember that your MP is limited so cast wisely. You can learn new magic through leveling up and by the use of Arks.
Use manual movement for better control
If you are farming or getting through the early stages, automatic control is good enough to get you through. However, when you get to the more challenging fights, you will need to start using manual movement.
With manual control, you are able to move your unit wherever you wish. You are no longer restricted to simply hitting the attack button to walk up to your target and attack them - you can move up, down, and all around! This is very important as you will need to dodge boss attacks later on.
If your healer is having trouble getting their heals off, you can take manual control of them and move them a safe distance away from enemies before you start casting. This should give them enough breathing room to be able to get a heal off.
