Triangle Strategy Tips And Battle Tactics Walkthrough - Tactical Points, Phases, Kudos, Quietuses Guide

Welcome to Nintendo Life's Triangle Strategy guide! Square Enix has served up a fantastic tactical RPG that's packed full of strategically engaging battles against some very clever enemies and so we're here with some handy hints and tips to help you come out on top and lead Serenoa Wollfort and his band of warriors to victory.

The game itself does a wonderful job of providing you with all of the information you could possibly need within its War Chronicle tutorials, a resource that's added to and refreshed as you progress through the main campaign, but we thought we'd go ahead and point out the bits and pieces of knowledge that helped us most during our journey through Norzelia.

Let's get started!

Triangle Strategy Guide: Tips And Battle Tactics Walkthrough

In the following Triangle Strategy guide we'll take you through the basics, from pre-battle tactics and things you should consider to specific information on how to turn the tide of a battle to your advantage. We also cover Kudos, Phases, Quietuses, Unit Positioning and more.

First, let's look at things to consider before the battle begins...

Pre-Battle Tactics

Position Your Units Carefully Before Battles

You may not be able to stick your units anywhere you want to before a fight kicks off in Triangle Strategy, but you are given a limited space to move them around and it's important, especially on harder difficulties, to get your troops sorted how you want them. This is all bread and butter stuff really, keep your healers and strategists safe at the rear and put your tanks at the front to protect them and soak up damage.

You'll also need to consider your flanks — the area we choose to keep fast-moving scouts — remember that getting surrounded is bad news here, so have a good look through your current roster and think about who should go where as it could give you the positive start you need in a fight.

Deploy Recommended Units From Your Roster

Open up your unit roster before a fight and you'll find that the game has very handily highlighted the units it believes will be of the most use to you in the upcoming battle. You can of course feel free to ignore this advice but, as far as we found, these recommendations are usually spot on and it's advisable to roll with them until you really know what you're doing. You may need someone who can build ladders in your next face-off, for example, and if so the game will make sure to highlight a unit that can do just that so you don't end up needing to take the long way around a cliff because you forgot to bring the ladder dude!

Take The Time To Get To Know Your Units

Jump into your roster of units at your encampment and you can pull up detailed summaries of each and every one of your party members that show you everything you could possibly need to know; what weapon you've got equipped, which accessories you're currently rocking and what abilities each fighter possesses. The more you familiarise yourself with the strengths and weaknesses of your party, the more successful you'll be in battle.

When you recruit a new unit you'll also have their aptitudes added to your War Chronicle so you can jump in there and check out a summary of what they're good for at any time!

Understand TP (Tactical Points)

The bread and butter of battles, TP are what you use to perform any attacks outside of a basic assault. Each unit in your party will start out with just one TP, as indicated by a yellow diamond, and will then accrue a further TP point on each turn. Remember to consider TP at all times and stock up on it to unleash devastating moves where necessary.

It's also important not to waste turns trying to save up TP too, of course. Use it when you're in trouble rather than taking big damage or even losing a unit because you think there's a chance it might pay off down the line, then regroup and go again.

Unit Positioning - How To Position Your Units In Battle

Yes, it may seem pretty obvious for a tactical RPG, but we really can't emphasise enough just how important the positioning of your party's units is in Triangle Strategy. You'll need to consider this aspect of the game with regards to terrain and the positions taken up by your enemies at all times. Let's consider some of the main things you'll need to think about in regards to positioning:

Use Terrain to your advantage

Getting the jump on your foes by taking the high ground where possible is crucial in Triangle Strategy and attacking from an elevated position will even provide you with an attack boost for your troubles. Always survey your surroundings and, whenever it's an option, get your fighters into spots that raise them above their foes as doing so could be the difference between a win or a loss in a tight scrap.

Surround your enemies to activate follow-up attacks

This is one of the first things you'll learn in Triangle Strategy, but also something that's easy forget in the heat of battle. Get one of your units on either side of an enemy and your attacks will automatically trigger a follow-up, giving you two bites at your foe. This is a fundamental tactic in the game, one that your enemies will make use of at every single opportunity, so think a few step ahead, get your troops into advantageous positions and always be aware that your opponents are trying to encircle your units at the same time.

We found that working follow-up attacks into all of our strategies is a brilliant way of getting rid of opposing battlemages and healers, two of enemy units you should always be in a rush to neutralise in order to dominate the flow of battle.

Use walls and other environmental features as natural defences

Another vitally important part of battles is the position in which you leave your fighters facing as you finish up their turns, as making a mistake here can see you take additional damage through backstabs or follow-up attacks. So, when considering how you want to leave your unit facing, make sure to take into account your surroundings, get your back up against a wall so nobody can get behind you, have your fighters stand back to back in order to protect one another and protect your sides as you do not want to get surrounded.

Consider Range At All Times For Healers And Mages

Two of the most important units in your retinue are absolutely your healers and your magic-based fighters. These folk are often a little on the soft side so it goes without saying you should keep them back from the front line where possible. However, you also need to remember to keep them within range in order to avail of their healing/destructive powers when you suddenly find yourself in a pinch. There's absolutely no use in a healer who's sat a couple of turns away or a mage whose most powerful fire or ice AOE attack is out of range when needed!

Make Use of Onscreen Prompts and Information

Triangle Strategy is very user-friendly, always showing you the ropes, always pausing the action to teach you a new trick and ensuring that there's lots of easily readable info for you to make use of as you plot your next move in battle.

During combat you can hover over enemies with various attacks selected in order to see whether they are weak or resistant to your planned assault. You can even simulate entire moves in order to see how they play out, with potential damage to health bars and other factors all highlighted for your convenience. It's all about stopping and considering your next move here and all the info you could possibly need is right there front and centre. Use it wisely!

The Grid System Shows You Where Is Safe In Battle

The grid upon which you do battle highlights which positions are safe for you to occupy, with out of reach squares coloured blue, as opposed to purple squares where you are within range of enemy attacks. Further to this, scrolling over a grid square will show you - via handy red attack lines - just how many different foes will be able to get a hit on you if you choose to move there.

When considering magic attacks grid squares will turn red as you aim around at foes, showing you where your fire, ice and lightning will land and how much of the battlefield they'll affect. Pretty handy stuff!

Elemental Attacks Can Change The Course Of A Battle

Of all the various attacks and powers we used during our time with Triangle Strategy, it was the elemental variety that scored us the most success in taking out numerous enemies in one foul swoop. Using your mages to dish out fire, electrical, wind and ice damage can take out tightly packed groups of enemies quickly, whittling opposing troops down and turning the tide in your advantage.

Remember when fighting that you can manipulate elements to maximise the carnage. Melt ice to make a puddle that can be zapped, for example, set fire to large swathes of the battle grid or build ice walls in order to hinder your enemy's advances and combine your mage's powers to maximum effect!

Inaction Bonuses Affect The Flow of Turns

It's important to remember that by ending a unit's turn before using all of your allocated goes you automatically reduce the time until that unit's next bite at the apple. It may not seem like a big deal, but spamming attacks or moves just because you can is unwise. If your character has nothing to add in a turn consider waiting it out, or just moving without attacking, in order to line them up for a future attack which will come around more quickly because you refrained from needless actions.

Recruit New Characters Via Character Stories

As you progress through Triangle Strategy's lengthy campaign you'll notice that green side story icons will appear on the game's world map from time to time that are separate and distinct from campaign critical red icons. You'll also find that a box containing "Character Stories" will occasionally pop up in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

With so much dialogue and occasionally lengthy exposition breaks in the action it may be tempting to skip some of these optional side events and stories. However, we suggest you make the time to jump into them all as not only do they flesh out character motivations and provide lots more background and angles on the events at hand but Character Stories are also where you'll nab extra fighters to add to your roster of available units.

Some of our favourite fighters were found in these short vignettes, so make sure not to blast past them or you may be missing out on a fighter who makes the all the difference between victory and defeat depending on your playstyle.

How To Earn Kudos

Kudos points are an aspect of the game that it's easy to miss or forget about entirely as you're told about them very early on. Basically they're cool points that you'll earn for fighting well, getting in with backstabs and follow-up attacks, taking out (or even just hitting) multiple foes with one shot and all that kind of good stuff.

Kudos can then be spent at Archibald's Tradepost in your encampment on all manner of materials and trinkets, some of which are quite important. These include medals that you'll use to permanently upgrade your unit's classes and Quietuses, which are special buffs and perks that can be deployed during battle.

How To Use Quietuses

Quietuses are special commands and boons that can be purchased from Archibald's tradepost in your encampment using your Kudos points. These special moves and battle boosts are selectable during fights by pressing "X" during your turn and heading into the Quietus menu, and boy can they really help get you out of a sticky situation when deployed at the right time.

Remember that using a Quietus using QP points and you can only use each one a single time during battle.

How To Grab The Spoils Of War

When an enemy drops a swag bag of loot you'll need to stand on top of it and then have your unit's turn end in that position in order to nab whatever goodies are hidden in there, so make sure to take the time to hoover all of these up before ending a fight.

We find waiting until your enemies are all but done for is best here, maybe even holding off until there's only one weak foe left, so that you can fall out of formation and pick up all that swag without the fear of being killed.

How To Promote A Unit

You can promote your units through three levels for their particular class, unlocking new moves and strengthening their overall battle prowess. In order to do so you'll need to use medals of valor and honor, both of which can be earned in battle and also purchased from Archibald's tradepost at the encampment in exchange for Kudos. Don't forget to use these medals up when you've got 'em and keep your roster updated and promoted at all times.

How To Upgrade Weapons and Unlock Weapon Abilities

Collect materials and coin from your battles — and from Exploration Phases, which we'll get to — in order to hit up the Smithy at your encampment, where you can upgrade all those pointy sticks, wands and bits o' metal that you call weapons. Just as with promotions, it's a good idea to constantly keep an eye out in your Smithy's menu to see who currently has upgrades available, the game is nice enough to flag any units up for you!

Exploration Phases Have Lots of Coin And Materials To Collect

Besides battling it out with enemies and taking in the narrative aspects of the game, you'll also get to wander around Triangle Strategy's wonderful little dioramas from time to time. Here you'll usually be charged with gathering intel or speaking to locals, but you should also be on the lookout for shiny sparklies dotted around the environments.

If you see a sparkle, head in its direction and examine the area when prompted and you'll be rewarded with upgrade materials and coin. It really is worth taking the time to hoover all of this up as sometimes you'll be surprised at the generosity of what you'll get your hands on here with some pretty big dumps of money and rare materials.

Scales of Conviction Phases - Take The Time To Talk To Everyone

The Scales of Conviction make multiple appearances at key points during Triangle Strategy and it's here that you'll make choices that will branch the game's narrative out along various paths. In order to ensure things go in the direction you want you need to speak to all of your comrades, listen to what they say and then choose from dialogue options in order to try to convince them towards your way of thinking.

There will always be some party members who aren't for turning, and the game will show you on the left of the screen where people are at with their thoughts, but it's worth taking your time here, think about the situation you're in and consider your choices and responses carefully in order to maximise your chances of having Serenoa's wishes fulfilled.

And Lastly, Never Be Afraid To Retreat From A Lost Cause

There's no permadeath in Triangle Strategy and XP and Kudos earned during battle is retained, even in defeat. So, if things have gone entirely wrong, don't be afraid to jack in a fight, wave the white flag and go again, keeping in mind what you've learned first time around.

And that's it for our tips and battle tactics. As we mentioned at the top, Triangle Strategy does an awesome job of providing you with info, details and tutorials on every single aspect of its gameplay so make sure to take the time to read your War Chronicles and get to know your party of fighters in order to succeed in battles and save the day!

Having problems with any aspect of Triangle Strategy or got some further tips or strategies to share? As always, let us know in the comments!