Tales of Arise best skills: 5 to unlock for every character ASAP

If you want to succeed in Tales of Arise, you’re going to need to enhance your skills.

Every character in the latest installment of Bandai Namco’s RPG series has his or her own unique skill tree, along with individual titles that unlock additional abilities. Some titles can be obtained by simply progressing the main story, others are optional and a bit trickier to find. Each title is represented as a ring with five skills attached to it — the skill at the top of every ring is automatically unlocked when you receive the title.

You can unlock skills by using SP, which is gained by defeating enemies or completing side quests. If you want to unlock every skill, then you’ll have to complete the story as well as the game’s post-game content.

Here are the best skills to unlock early for every character in Tales of Arise.

Alphen

Some of Alphen’s starting titles include:

• Iron Mask: Automatically obtained during the prologue
• Rebellious Spark: Automatically obtained during the prologue
• Blazing Blow: Down enemies 35 times with Alphen’s Boost Attack
• Blazing Sword: Automatically obtained during story quest “Taking Down Balseph”
• Emissary of Liberation: Automatically obtained after defeating Balseph

Alphen’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Increased Max AG (Iron Mask, Rebellious Spark, Emissary of Liberation)

• Artes always costs AG, so the more you can carry, the better. Luckily Alphen has three of these nodes early on in the game.

2. Increased Down Damage (Blazing Sword)

• Alphen’s Boost Attack always downs enemies, so this skill matches well with it as he’ll be able to do more damage before an enemy gets back up.

3. Flaming Edge Burst (Blazing Blow)

• Alphen’s special ability is that after performing an Arte, you can hold the designated button down to extend it with the Blazing Sword. With this skill, you can hold down the button even longer to charge the extension, sacrificing more of your HP in order to make the attack more powerful.

4. Faster AG Recovery (Emissary of Liberation)

• This skill explains itself. The faster your AG recovers, the sooner you can get back into the fray and fire off Artes on enemies.

5. Easier Perfect Evading/Guarding (Iron Mask)

• Evading at the right time gives Alphen invincibility frames to avoid incoming attacks from enemies. This skill widens the window of opportunity. Later on, you can unlock skills that recover AG when Perfect Evading, so this skill is very useful.

Shionne

Some of Shionne’s starting titles are:

• Escape Artist: Automatically obtained during the prologue
• Speedy Chef: Cook 1 meal (this is automatic during the story)
• Bottomless Stomach: Cook any 8 Meals
• Thorny Woman: Automatically obtained during story quest “Taking Down Balseph”

Shionne’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Increased Max AG (Escape Artist, Thorny Woman)

2. KO Prevention (Escape Artist)

• This skill allows Shionne to survive with 1 HP from an attack that would normally knock her out. This is incredibly useful for being able to stay alive! Shionne is the only character to have access to this skill relatively early on, so make sure to take advantage of that.

3. Increased Arte Casting Resilience (Thorny Woman)

• Shionne is one of your main healers, so this skill makes it so that she won’t be interrupted as much from enemy attacks when casting spells. This is very helpful when she’s trying to nurse the party back up to health.

4. Faster AG Recovery (Bottomless Stomach)

5. CP Restoration When Full (Bottomless Stomach)

• After you cook a meal, this skill allows the party to recover a bit of CP following each battle. CP is a scarce resource when you’re tackling dungeons. CP is what allows your Shionne and others to use healing spells, as well as eliminate certain field obstacles.

Rinwell

Some of Rinwell starting titles include:

• Dahnan Mage: Unlocked by default
• Silver Sword: Automatically obtained during the story quest “Finding Zephyr”
• Birdie Bestie: Complete “The Owl Forest” sub-quest. You’ll get this sub-quest automatically during the story.
• Spell Canceller: Cancel six enemy Arte castings with Rinwell’s Boost Attack.

Rinwell’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Strengthened Magic Charge (Dahnan Mage)

• Rinwell can starting casting spells and then save them for later, charging them in the process. This skill makes Charged Artes more powerful.

2. Arte Casting Mobility (Silver Sword)

• This skill allows Rinwell to move while casting Artes. That way, she won’t be a sitting duck and she can avoid enemies!

3. Owl Astral Energy (Birdie Bestie)

• In the game, you’ll come across different owls in dungeons, routes, and cities. These owls act as the game’s collectibles. The more owls you find out in the wild, the stronger Rinwell’s elemental attack power increases.

4. Increasing Boost Gauge at Battle Start

• Rinwell has one of the most useful Boost Attacks in the game. She can cancel out any spells that the enemies are currently in the middle of trying to cast. Additionally, she’ll take the spell as her own and fire it back at the enemy too.

5. Reduced Arte Casting Time During Combos

• As Rinwell racks up the hit counter, her spells will require less time to cast.

Law

Some of Law’s starting titles are:

• Mournful Son: Unlocked by Default
• Snake Eye Turncoat: Unlocked by Default
• Prince of iron Fists: Perform three Boost Attacks
• Armor Breaker: Break 40 Armored enemies with Law’s Boost Attack

Law’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Increased Awakening Attack (Mournful Son)

• When Law lands a certain number of attacks without being staggered, he falls into an “Awakened” state. In this state, his attack stats are increased. This skill simply just increases his attack stats higher.

2. Awakening Burst (Snake Eye Turncoat)

• With this skill, Law attains an additional level of Awakening. While Law is in his Awakened state, if he continues to attack without being staggered, his stats will increase even further.

3. Increased BG at Battle Start (Prince of Iron Fists)

• Law has a very useful Boost Skill, in which he can break open armored enemies. This could be regular knight armor, shells, and such. This is indicated by the fact that if you hit an armored enemy, then there’s a soft blue shield that pops up indicating that. Armored enemies take less damage and don’t stagger often, so having Law breaking them open is helpful.

4. Reduced Awakening Requirements (Armor Breaker)

• This skill simply just reduces the amount of attacks Law has to land in order to achieve his Awakened state.

5. Easier Awakening Over Limit (Armor Breaker)

• Law’s skill tree has many skills that allow him to enter Over Limit very easily, so he will be the one who fires of Mystic Artes (ultimate attacks) the most. This is especially true if Law is AI-controlled. This skill just allows him to have an easier time to enter Over Limit when he’s Awakened.

Kisara

Some of Kisara’s starting titles include:

• Captain Kisara: Unlocked by Default
• Devout Sister: Unlocked by Default
• Unbreakable Wall: Stop one charging enemy with Kisara’s Boost Attack (this is mandatory during Kisara’s tutorial)

Kisara’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Guard Mobility (Captain Kisara)

• Kisara likes to guard instead of evade, but this skill will allow her to run around while guarding.

2. Increasing Guarding Effects (Captain Kisara)

• This one is simple, as it reduces the damage dealt to Kisara when she guards.

3. Easier Over Limit (Captain Kisara)

• This increases Kisara’s chance of entering Over Limit.

4. Recover (Devout Sister)

• When Kisara gets knocked off her feet, she’ll fly into the air. This just allows Kisara to recover in mid-air and land safely. The animation for getting off the ground takes an excruciatingly long time, so this skill definitely helps.

5. Increased BG at Battle Start

• Kisara’s Boost Attack stops enemies that charge at you right in their tracks. In my opinion, it’s one of the less useful ones, as you can usually evade out of the way. But it can be helpful if enemies try to charge a you multiple times in a row.

Dohalim

Some of Dohalim starting titles are:

• Architect of Coexistance: Unlocked by Default
• Former Lord: Unlocked by Default
• Dilettante: Unlocked by Default
• Ivy Master: Snag 10 fleet-footed enemies with Dohalim’s Boost Attack

Dohalim’s best early-game skills in Tales of Arise

1. Easier Perfect Evading/Guarding (Architect of Coexistance, Former Lord)

• Perfect evades activate Dohalim’s rod extension ability, giving his attacks more range. This allows Dohalim to activate it easier.

2. Recover (Dilettante)

3. Increased Arte Casting Resilience (Ivy Master)

4. Faster AG Recovery (Architect of Coexistance)

5. AG Restored by Perfect Evading/Guarding (Architect of Coexistance)

• The first skill allows Dohalim to activate perfect evades more easily, but adding AG restoration to his arsenal makes him even more of a force to be reckoned with.

Tales of Arise is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.