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Tales of Crestoria Beginner’s Guide: Tips, Cheats & Strategies to Dominate Each Game Mode

Bandai Namco is one of the biggest names in the gaming industry that offers a wide variety of popular titles across various genres and gaming platforms. One of the company’s longest-running game series is the Tales series that started back in 1995 with the Super Famicom game, Tales of Phantasia. With 16 main titles and numerous spin-off games, the Tales series has become one of the biggest RPG series to have its own fan base and followers.

Tales of Crestoria is the latest installment in Bandai Namco’s popular Tales series and comes with its own set of unique characters and story. Like all other Tales games, Tales of Crestoria is separate and distinct from its predecessors and the storylines are independent of any Tales game as well. However, Tales of Crestoria is unique in that it employs main characters from various games in the series.

This game certainly has a lot to offer for the fans of the franchise, as well as RPG enthusiasts, with its simple, yet stylish turn-based gameplay, huge content, and the plethora of characters and relative mechanics that enable strategic opportunities in team-building and combat. If you enjoy strategy RPGs with gacha elements, even if you are not a fan of the Tales RPG series, you should definitely check Tales of Crestoria out.

tales of crestoria strategies

Tales of Crestoria sets you off on a unique adventure revolving around Kanata, Misella, and Vicious as their past transgressions lead fellow citizens to shun and ostracize them. Beyond bearing the weight of their past mistakes, they need to survive the world of Crestoria with all the people after them as well as the monsters that lurk around. The trio of protagonists will not be alone in their long journey, though, as various characters from within Crestoria as well as others from past Tales games will join them in their adventures.

There are a lot of game mechanics and features in Tales of Crestoria that are common among other turn-based strategy RPGs but there are many unique mechanics as well. The initial session, which serves as a tutorial, does not overwhelm you with new concepts one after another making it as newbie-friendly as possible. If you find yourself unable to beat a particular challenge, then stay with us and read our Tales of Crestoria beginner’s guide below!

1. Reroll For More Or Better SSR Heroes

It has become an almost staple activity in every RPG that involves gacha mechanics to reroll for better starting characters. As Tales of Crestoria is no different and requires some luck in terms of securing additional units, taking the opportunity to start out stronger is hard to ignore.

how to reroll for ssr heroes in tales of crestoria

Initially, the game provides you with a free selection of an SSR character to join your crew. As pre-registration and launch gifts you can claim via the Gifts icon at the right side of the main screen should suffice to let you perform a 10x roll, the idea is to consider the aftermath of your first 10x draw as the option to do a reroll. If you are new to the idea of rerolling, it simply means resetting the game at the earliest possible point to redo the initial summon as many times as you need to until you obtain the best starting characters you want.

We have yet to finalize our own tier list for Tales of Crestoria but as early as now, we would suggest going for at least two of the best heroes in our opinion. You can nab one from the initial selection and another one from the 10x roll. The best heroes we found so far are Leon, Velvet, and Cress. It can happen that you may obtain more than 1 SSR hero from a 10x gacha roll but at least banking on one of these heroes should already be worth it.

Related: Tales of Crestoria SSR Heroes Tier List: Our Picks for the Best and Worst SSR Heroes in the Game

To reroll, you simply need to clear the app data and cache on your device’s settings, uninstall the game, and reinstall it again. Do so as many times as you wish until you are content with the starting SSR heroes in your collection. Keep in mind as well that this is not necessary especially if you prefer to enjoy the harder grind of progressing through your journey with whichever heroes you start your adventures with.

2. Prioritize Progressing With The Story

Although Tales of Crestoria has elements that set it apart from other Tales games, given that it is designed for mobile devices, it still heavily revolves around an immersive storyline much like its predecessors. The initial battles within the main story are designed to be very easy and provides ample opportunities for players to familiarize themselves with the core mechanics and battle system.

On top of learning more about the characters’ unique stories and getting to know more about the lore of the land, every stage you complete in the story mode comes with various rewards to obtain.

how to progress with the story fast in tales of crestoria

Every member of your party earns EXP and affinity points whenever you take them to battle. Not every stage involves a battle, though, as some are entirely mad of cut scenes that delve more into the game’s story. Watching through or even skipping story playbacks earn you Gleamstones, which are the premium currency in the game. Each battle stage, on the other hand, earns you Gald, various items, and resources.

Take note that each battle stage has 3 quest missions and accomplishing each one earns you 10 Gleamstones. As such, it is important to look into each quest and strive to achieve all of it on your first attempt.

Beyond the outright rewards you can earn from clearing stages within the main story, another important consideration is the account EXP you earn to rank up your account. If you noticed, you will begin your adventure with only 10 action points (AP) and the initial battles consume 2 AP per attempt. As you reach new ranks, though, your maximum AP increases and it gets replenished as well. In this sense, you will have more than what you can spend on the game on your first few hours or day, provided that you continuously engage in battles.

Although your heroes earn EXP after each battle, it will not suffice to meet the challenges in latter stages of the story mode. Although it may take a while before you to experience your first defeat, you will often have to upgrade some heroes or even switch rosters if ever you chance upon higher rarity ones. As much as you can, though, you should prioritize pushing as far as you can through the stages as the resources you earn from the battles, especially the Gleamstones will be important for you to summon more allies.

3. Maintain A Balanced Team

Like any turn-based strategy RPGs, one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of Tales of Crestoria comes in the team creation part. With its huge roster of characters that you can mix and match to form a team composed of 6 members, there are near-limitless possibilities that you can come up with. The distinction between an effective and coherent team in contrast with a less synergistic one may not be evident during the initial battles that you engage in but as you dive deeper into the world of Crestoria, the more necessary it becomes to have a strong, synergistic line-up.

There are different factors to consider in building a team and while the selection of characters may initially be confusing to beginners, it can be a lot easier to choose your team’s members if you follow a prioritization scheme.

Naturally, what you should initially consider is a main hero to work around with. With the initial hero selection feature and your 10x gacha, chances are that you will have 2 SSR heroes to use on your adventure. Heroes are only either SSR or SR and with the limited number of SSR heroes you can obtain early on, you will have to initially settle for using some SR characters.

how to build a powerful team in tales of crestoria

Tales of Crestoria employs an elemental affinity system that is especially common among turn-based strategy RPGs. Heroes fall within 6 different elemental categories that basically follow the rock-paper-scissors of dealing and receiving damage.

There are 4 basic elements which are earth, wind, water, and fire and 2 special elements which are light and dark. Earth is strong against wind but weak against fire, wind is strong against water and weak against earth, water is strong against fire but weak against wind, and fire is strong against earth but weak against water.

Light and dark elements do not have elemental advantages or disadvantages against the other elements and are both strong and weak against one another. There is also a neutral element outside of the elemental affinity cycle not present in the heroes but can be encountered on the opposing side of the field as well.

There are no specified jobs, classes, or roles in Tales of Crestoria but the hero type, which classifies heroes based on the weapon types they use, can often be an indicator of the role they typically play. Most heroes that are classified based on weapons like swords, dualblades, axes, and so on usually focus on attack but some of their skills have added effects as well. Staff, artes, and support types are heroes that may exhibit healing abilities and support skills.

There are currently no heroes classified under the support type but more heroes are expected to join the Tales of Crestoria roster so it can be expected that some support types will join in soon enough.

Naturally, you should also check the individual skills of each character. You can view details of the characters you have obtained via the “Allies” icon at the bottom of the screen. It would be best, however, to check the details of each available character by clicking on the menu and choosing codex, then characters.

This will not just give you an idea of which heroes you would want to invest in once you obtain them and which ones to choose as the support hero from other players that you can take with you in battle. Having sufficient familiarity with each hero’s unique skills and abilities can give you an idea on how best to deal with them in the arena.

One of more impactful skills to look into is the passive skill of each character that applies buffs to the whole party. Do note that some of these passive skills are very conditional so you would naturally go for character that have passives that applies to most, if not all, team members. SSR heroes have mystic artes on top of two other basic arts or active skills. While we would normally recommend going with a team that has a good mix of elemental affinities, looking into how the passive and active skills of your heroes synergize to boost your team’s efficiency should be your prime consideration.

4. Be Selective When Upgrading Your Heroes And Memoria Stones

As we mentioned earlier, every battle your heroes engage in earns them experience points that lead to an eventual level up. Beyond that, however, you can further give your favorite heroes an XP boost by training them. At the course of your progression through the main story, as well as through power-up quests, you can obtain elixirs needed to grant your heroes additional XP. Do note that elixirs have elements as well and, except for rainbow elixirs, each type will grant 50% more XP if used on a hero with the same element.

memoria stones in tales of crestoria

Beyond levelling up, each hero in Tales of Crestoria can be ascended using gald and ascension items. Each stage of ascension increases the hero’s level cap by 10. SSR heroes can be ascended to reach level 100 while SR heroes can be ascended all the way to level 90. Once a hero’s ascension has reached the maximum level, the hero will unlock his ascension board that leads to enhancing stats even further.

There is no waste in obtaining copies of heroes you already have from the gacha as duplicate SSR and SR heroes are converted into Memoria Stones. If you have gone through the initial tutorial, then you should already know that Memoria Stones are the exclusive items in the game that resemble gears in most other RPGs.

In addition to Memoria Stones being something heroes can equip in the formation, Memoria Stones specific to each hero can be used to awaken that hero. Each awakening instance will tremendously boost the stats of a hero and increase the level of his or her mystic artes. Reaching the max level of awakening will also unlock the hero’s awakening skill.

Memoria Stones can also be enhance much like the heroes and will consume refining materials as well as gald. Like training elixirs, refining materials will also confer more XP when used on MEmoria Stones of the same elemental property. You can also use other Memoria Stones as ingredients to boost the level of the ones you use.

5. Engage In Various Game Modes

While you can certainly go far in the story mode before experiencing your first defeat, your progression in the story will eventually come to a halt at some point as your heroes levels and your team’s overall strength will no longer suffice to defeat the growing strength of enemies from one battle to the next. Once you already feel that the challenge has grown beyond what you can take on, then that should be the time to venture into other quests or game modes.

Tales of Crestoria contains various other game modes you can spend time on for additional resources that can help you through your journey and while most of them also consume AP, you will have more than enough to tire yourself out on a daily basis.

One of the most basic game modes you will be spending a lot of time on is the Power-Up Quests. There is a special power-up quest you can engage in once each day that does not require AP and rewards you with both elixirs to level up heroes as well as refining stones to upgrade your Memoria Stones. Beyond that, 3 of 6 different sets of elemental dungeons become available daily. Dungeon stages have varying difficulty levels, require different amounts of AP, and provide different rewards. You need to beat the initial levels to unlock the next one.

Like elixirs and refining stones, you will also have a constant need for more gald regardless of how much you have racked up in you adventure. As the basic currency in the world of Crestoria, you practically need gald for every enhancement you do as much as most other avenues for spending. BE sure to progress through the different levels of the Gald Quest to unlock level that provide more gald.

The Phantom Tower provides progressive challenge from one floor to the next and certain conditions apply on each floor on top of stronger enemies. Each floor you beat earns you rewards and beating the top floor, which is floor 30, typically rewards you with limited SSR Memoria Stones. Each floor consumes 1 AP and you typically have a little over a month to beat all 30 floors.

A unique feature of the Phantom Tower is that you will not be able to use your allies’ heroes to support you in battle. Once the duration of the event expires, the tower resets and you can once again earn new rewards for each floor you beat.

There are also time-limited quests available in Tales of Crestoria. These quests typically work much like the story mode, which means that some stages are mere story cut scenes that earn you Gleamstones for playing through. Engaging in these time-limited quests also earns you event points and you will earn additional rewards at the end of the period based on how many points you have amassed.

6. Join A Guild And Add Friends

Guilds, alliances, factions, clans, and other similarly-themed player groups have long since become an integral part of many online games and not just RPGs. Although you can very much enjoy playing through most of the game’s content all on your own, being a part of a guild unlocks exclusive features you can only take advantage of as a member on top of providing avenues to earn more in-game friends.

In essence, guilds offer numerous advantages for each member without necessarily imposing any negative side effects. Typically, the only expectation for being a member of any guild is being active in the game and making voluntary donations as regularly as possible.

tales of crestoria guild

You can donate various items and gald to your guild for it to earn experience points and reach new ranks. The higher the guild’s rank, the more members and guild points it can hold. Guild points you earn for activities and donations can be used to perform guild point summons.

You can earn Memoria Stones and various power-up items from guild point summons. Guild rank also unlocks more types of guild boosts, which can only be activated by the guild captain. These boosts apply to each member and 3 boosts can be activated simultaneously.

By looking into each member’s profile in the guild members’ menu, you can quickly send them friend requests or invite them to a party. Early on in the game, you will be quckly presented with opportunities to add friends after using the player’s character to support you in your battle. With guilds, you will have an extra avenue to max out your friends list and ensure you will have more options to choose from as support characters on more challenging battles as well as teammates on raids.

As you use a friends character to support you in battle, as friends use your characters in return, and as you clear raids with an ally, you earn friend points that you can use as well to summon. This can earn you various power-up items and ingredients as well. Relative to this, make sure that your Support Team Lineup is always updated with the best heroes in your roster for each one of the six elemental groups. You can edit this via its icon within the Allies feature.

7. Accomplish Missions For Extra Rewards

Although Tales of Crestoria provides you with plenty of outright rewards for each battle or activity you engage in, more can easily be earned through the various mission objectives that align with your overall progression and activity within your journey. These missions can be accessed through the missions icon at the right side of the screen and, for the most part, will often have an indicator on it to tell you that you have accomplished some of the missions without even knowing. Each mission objective earns you rewards upon completion and some will provide extra rewards for clearing the whole list.

The daily missions are the easiest ones to accomplish and takes you through the basic features and game modes that you should routinely engage in on a daily basis. Gald, Gleamstones, and upgrade materials can easily be earned from completing objectives. Weekly missions, on the other hand are just like pumped up versions of the objectives listed under the daily missions.

how to earn more rewards in tales of crestoria

Clearing a daily mission objective brings you a step closer to accomplishing feats listed under the weekly missions so consistently being active on a regular basis should leave you no worries in terms of fully accomplishing both lists.

For starters, you should consider reading through the list of objectives and let it serve as your guide to plow through the game’s content, especially the features and gam modes you are least familiar with early on. Sooner or later, you will naturally keep a good memory of both lists of objectives.

Event missions can be dependent on time-limited events so browsing through the list of objectives is important to give you an idea on how to make the most of the event. Objectives here typically earn you more Gleamstones than daily and weekly missions although some can only be engaged in based on your overall progress in the story and the limited event that it unlocks.

Title Missions and Free Missions both work like achievements in other games in the sense that a lot of the objectives to clear relate to overall progress in the game. These missions act like milestones that offer one-time rewards and may also unlock more challenging missions once a similar one has been cleared.

Title Missions earn you new titles you can attach to your profile. Titles do not have any impact on gameplay bu can be exhibited as bragging rights depending on the achievement associated with the title. Free Missions provide exceptional rewards that may even include new characters on top of the numerous power-up items and Gleamstones.

Be sure to check the list of missions you have yet to clear especially those you are close to accomplishing. It is always better to achieve and obtain rewards sooner so you can enhance your heroes faster and progress more rapidly through the game’s content.

Relative to missions, you should also seek to complete the challenge missions as much as you can. You can access challenge missions via the banner on the lower left side of the main screen. These missions are presented in a panel style and accomplishing 6 missions within one panel is required for you to move on to the next one. There are rewards to be earned for clearing each mission and a more valuable one for clearing the whole panel. While you need to clear the first set of challenge missions to proceed to the next one, it can happen that you have already accomplished some or even all of the missions on it.

8. Expend Daily Attempts In The Arena

While some players prefer to enjoy an RPG’s story along with other PvE challenges, some players unleash their competitive spirits and revel more in its PvP content. For the most part, beginners would usually shy away from features such as the arena although in Tales of Crestoria, much like most strategy RPGs, the arena is not as discouraging as one would expect. Regardless of your performance or your team’s overall prowess against other players’ teams, it is important to expend all 5 daily attempts to challenge others in the arena.

tales of crestoria arena

The Arena in Tales of Crestoria is divided into week-long seasons and every player’s performance throughout the season is rewarded accordingly. Each battle earns you rewards but winning earns you prestige points. The more prestige a player earns, the higher rank he gets promoted too, thus enabling matchups with similarly levelled opponents.

Likewise, earning more prestige will also lead to a higher grade, which comes with its own set of rewards. Meals and support characters cannot be used in the arena and the amount of prestige you amass earns you arena medals that can be used to purchase for various items at the arena exchange.

9. Spend Some Time With Cooking

Another reason you would want to prioritize progressing through Tales of Crestoria’s main story is to unlock more recipes for you to cook. Once you unlock a new recipe, it stay with you for good although ingredients are consumed every time you cook and meals as well every time you use them before the battle.

Meals are an important feature in the game especially for tougher battles from mid to end game. Meals provide a variety of buffs and protection like a boost on attack, defense, or HP; increase in XP, gald, or affinity points gained for the battle; or even protection from certain status ailments like sleep or poison. You can only consume one type of dish per battle, though, so be sure to choose wisely.

how to unlock more recipes in tales of crestoria

Every dish you cook increases your cooking skills and both cooking skills and the helper can determine the quality of the meal. A success leads to a more common small meal bonus, great success provides a medium meal bonus, and amazing success earns you a large meal bonus. Repeatedly cooking the same meal also influences the chance of having better success rates for that specific recipe. Do note that each character has his or her own specialty meal so always pick the right helper whenever you attempt to cook a meal.

That wraps up our Tales of Crestoria tips, tricks and strategies. We certainly hope that you picked up a lot of learnings from the simple tips and strategies we shared and that you enjoyed reading it as well. There are certainly a lot more features and details within the game that we have not delved into much in this guide but we are confident that what we have presented will enable you to plow through every bit of content the game has to offer.

In any case, if you chanced upon some tips or strategies in addition to what we have already shared, then be sure to let us know below in the comment area!