Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream: 8 Beginner Tips

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream is an engaging game not only for its story but also for its mechanics. Whether you're familiar with the Sword Art Online anime or not, the game does an excellent job pulling you into its world. With nearly 20 characters, you'll have plenty of time to find the one that fits your playstyle.

After the main story, the co-op mode, where you team up with other players to battle epic bosses, is just as enjoyable. However, if you're new to the game, the tutorial section might feel overwhelming with all the information, so we’ve put together some tips to help you get started.

Aim For The Highest Score

The game consists of five chapters, each with a varying number of quests. To achieve an S rank in a chapter, you need to surpass a score of 50,000. Aiming for the highest score not only helps you earn the S rank but also allows you to fully explore the chapter's map and collect valuable items.

To maximize your score, engage with every enemy on the map, defeat Named Enemies, and complete Console challenges. It's best to focus on these tasks before heading to the final objective of a quest, as completing the last objective will end the quest within 20 seconds. Aim to accumulate around 20,000 points before tackling the final objective.

Additionally, completing the quest without dying grants you an extra 10,000 points. To avoid deaths, use your Healing Crystals effectively, collect Healing Spheres from chests, and, if possible, include a support character in your party who can heal you. Ensure you traverse the entire map and defeat all enemy groups.

Note that throwing enemies into bottomless pits does not count as defeating them, so you won’t earn points this way.

If the quest involves protecting a character or object with a health bar, ensure they take as little damage as possible, as this will impact your score. Keep in mind that dying and respawning will result in a loss of rewards, so prioritize survival throughout the quest.

Essential Survival Tips

In Story Mode, it’s crucial to refine your Guard and Dodge skills. The stronger the bosses you face, the deadlier their attacks and the larger their area of effect. Guarding reduces the damage you take and is easier to execute.

However, dodging and positioning your character wisely is equally important, especially when controlling fragile characters who should keep their distance from the boss. Dodging can be especially rewarding if you practice it, as successful dodges provide a small amount of healing. Mastering this technique can be a game-changer.

Another way to regain health is by reviving downed allies. Normally, fallen characters stay down for a period before respawning, but if you revive them, a health sphere will appear. This action not only saves your teammate but also restores your own health.

Heal Strategically By Opening Chests

Chests are divided into three tiers: bronze, silver, and gold, which can be distinguished by their appearance. While the rewards vary depending on the chest tier, all chests drop healing spheres. If you're out of Healing Crystals, targeting chests is a smart alternative to restore your health.

Additionally, to easily locate chests, adjust the Mini-Map Display Area setting to ‘Far.’ This setting also helps you find Remnants, Data Cubes, and Consoles with ease.

If your HP is full, avoid collecting healing spheres from chests. Instead, switch to a party member with lower HP to claim the sphere. Make sure not to miss silver and gold chests, as they provide higher-quality mods and useful items. This approach ensures efficient healing and maximizes the rewards you gain from the chests.

Elemental Advantage And Weaknesses In Combat

In the game, another important aspect to consider is elements. To maximize damage against enemies, especially bosses, using elemental advantage is crucial. Your normal attacks and advanced skills may deal elemental damage, but not all of them will be aligned with an element.

The damage dealt by your normal attacks is determined by your weapon. To check the elemental damage of your advanced skills, refer to the ‘Display Character Info’ section.

Furthermore, certain enemy types are weak to specific elements:

Element	Monster
Wind	Flying enemies like Evil Glancers and Minions
Fire	Beast and plant enemies like Blood Wolves and Acid Fungi
Water	Reptilian enemies like Lizardmen
Electric	Mechanical enemies like Automatons and Shooting Phages
Light	Demonic enemies like Delinquents and Demonic Witches
Dark	Angelic enemies like Guardians

Of course, not all monsters and bosses will adhere to these weaknesses. Additionally, in Co-Op quests, it’s beneficial to check the bosses' weaknesses and resistances before choosing your character.

To further maximize your damage, focus on hitting enemy weak spots. When you find a weak spot, the word 'Weak' will appear on the screen, so don’t stop attacking until you’ve fully exploited it.

Unlock The Potential Of Gauge Bars

Remember that some characters have a gauge bar that can greatly enhance their effectiveness in battles when used wisely. Once the bar is full, activating it boosts the character's utility. For example, Kirito recovers HP over time and reduces advanced skill cooldowns.

Each character’s gauge works differently: Heathcliff grants damage reduction and reflects physical damage for himself and allies when his gauge is activated. On the other hand, Administrator lacks a gauge bar but instead accumulates a ‘Life’ counter by dealing damage, which she can use to unleash a powerful beam of light.

In addition to advanced skills, mastering the gauge bar system is key to maximizing each character’s potential.

Maximize Break Gauge And Counter Opportunities

Another important mechanic to know about is the Break Gauge. This is represented by the blue bar you see under the boss's health. When this bar reaches 100 percent, the boss will be knocked down, giving you an opportunity to attack. In these situations, you should prefer quick attacks and advanced skills instead of slower ones.

The faster you hit the enemy, the harder it will be to deplete this bar, while slower skills may allow the enemy to recover faster.

Additionally, when certain bosses perform dangerous attacks, you’ll see 'Counter Chance' on the screen. In this case, move away from the boss and enter the yellow and white circles. If you don’t miss this opportunity, you will interrupt the boss's attack, deal damage, and fill up the Break Gauge a bit.

It is especially important to fill all the circles in multiplayer quests to deal significant damage to the boss.

Moreover, you may sometimes see 'Switch Chains' on the screen. In such cases, approach the enemy quickly before the timer runs out and take the opportunity to deal damage. If you participate in a Switch Chain, you’ll have the chance to perform a Chain Finish.

So after joining the Switch Chain, make sure not to keep too much distance from the enemy in order to take advantage of the Chain Finish opportunity.

Master Item Mechanics For Efficient Gameplay

The item mechanics in the game may seem complex at first. To avoid getting overwhelmed with the items you collect in Story Mode, make sure to use the ‘Optimize Equipment’ option. This ensures that your character equips the highest-ranked items available.

Unnecessary items can be dismantled for Upgrade Materials and Col. However, be cautious not to dismantle items with good passive stats, especially for the Co-Op section of the game. You can use Effect Spheres to transfer the effects of unwanted items to ones you plan to use.

With Col, the in-game currency, you can craft items, but keep in mind that crafted items will match your Player Rank level, so don’t expect them to be overly powerful if your player level is low.

In later, more challenging Co-op stages, crafting items using Col can be beneficial. In Story Mode, completing quests with high ranks will usually provide enough items. Lastly, ensure your items are close to your Player Rank; characters with low-level equipment will struggle as the game progresses.

From Story Mode To Co-Op Challenges

The items you obtain in Story Mode will suffice as long as you Achieve good scores, and the mode itself isn’t overly difficult. Story Mode serves as a stepping stone to Co-op, where the real challenges, like Extreme Boss Raids, take place. By the end of Story Mode, your player level will reach 20, preparing you for Co-op quests.

In the Lobby, make sure to join any Aid Requests you encounter. These provide opportunities to gain items and increase your Player Rank. In Co-op quests, the Awakening Level System starts you at level one, so ensure you level up by defeating enemies before engaging bosses.

While Col and regular items are shared among players, cosmetic items can only be picked up by one person, so be careful not to miss them.

Once you complete Tier One Co-op quests, you’ll unlock the first Co-op boss fight. This boss provides the best EXP farming method until Tier Three quests, as it can be defeated quickly, making it an efficient way to level up your character and Player Rank.

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