One of the common features across stylish-action games such as Bayonetta or Devil May Cry is a system that grades your performance in combat. It's motivation for playing better and using your suite of abilities to its full potential, which often leads to better rewards. Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain does the same if you play on either Platinum Standard or Platinum Ultimate difficulty, but it works a bit differently this time around.
Astral Chain's combat scenarios conclude by giving you a letter grade from D (lowest) to S+ (highest), and there are several factors that go into the grade you get. The number one thing to keep in mind is to use your variety of Legions and different skills as much as you can. Another important tip is to always hit your sync attacks and sync finishers; these account for a good chunk of points at the end of combat. Getting multiple chain binds and consecutive critical backstab hits also heavily factor into point totals.
Essentially any sweet move you can do in Astral Chain contributes to the overall score you get (10,000+ being the requirement for S+ rank). Time to complete the combat scenario is also part of your score calculation so its best to be efficient, too. There is nothing that will explicitly take points away from you since there are no negatives in the calculation, just points you leave on the table.
However, Astral Chain differs from its contemporaries in a big way; its scoring system does not account for damage taken. That's right, you can take as much damage as you want (though you don't really want that) and still get the coveted S+ ranking--even using up your AED revives won't prevent a top tank. The way damage can hinder your score is if your combos or abilities constantly get broken up, preventing you from pulling off the moves that add points to your overall score.
Though the game doesn't make it explicitly clear what the conditions for achieving certain awards are, you can get a general idea of what they require based on their names. The following is a long list of the awards I've commonly earned in combat:
- Legion Skill
- Legion Skill Master
- Chain Bind
- Multi Chain Bind
- Backstab
- Perfect Call
- Finishing Touch
- Legion of Legions
- Long Range Only
- Running On Empty
- Accident-Prone
- Medicine Master
- Dodge and Sync
- Sync Attacker
- Drop and Sync
- Sync Attack Master
- Naked Eye
- Stunning
- Full Arsenal
- Multiple Legions
- Item Hoarder
- Chain of Command
At the end of the day, there are many ways to achieve S+ ranks in Astral Chain. It's not exact science but in my experience, hitting multiple sync attacks, juggling between at least three different Legion, and using cool down attacks have been enough to earn consistent S+ grades. There comes a point in the game (especially in the endgame combat missions) where success is only really possible by playing in this manner; you'll inherently earn top rank most times.
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