"Risk" is a constant 'state' in the game which is critical to dishing out and receiving minimum damage. I am covering this first as out of all the aspects in the game, this is ignored and used the least.

(I will use a * whenever I refer to a key term, look towards the end of the section for a definition.

Let me go over the benefits of low risk:
- Reduced damage taken
- Higher damage rates
- Debuff Rate increased
- Higher critical resistance
- More or less infinite burst attacks/quicksteps

Downsides of high risk:
- Susceptibility to critical damage and one shot deaths are pretty high
- Lower damage quantity
- Less resistance to debuffs
- Burst guage recovery non-existent (meaning you can't dodge either)

These are all very important, and since the game more or less makes you fight enemies that demolish you with a single hit, having low risk will make fights not only go faster, but easier too. In fact, you can toy with most bosses purely by abusing 'Risk Breaks'*.

Now that we've established that, how can I tell what my risk is and how do I manage it? As you can see below, the risk gauge is by the right of the burst attack meter, which has 5 stages.


Risk goes up multiple ways, namely when you get your skill cancelled by an attack and simply use skills in general.

To REDUCE risk, you can go about it through three main ways.
- Killing the enemy (yeah, I know, shhh.)
- Switching
- Parry*

Switiching is fundamental to this game. So long as you are close enough, you can stun the enemy (or your partner, depending on who is swapping out the hate from the target) and go in for a skill without raising your risk- all the while, keeping your risk at 0.
Do note, when your partner asks for a switch, the cooldown resets, so you can literally switch spam enemies and never let them attack with good enough management.

Parrying is definitely underused, it's hard to tell when to use it- but it's mostly with normal attacks of the enemy, not only does it give the enemy an increased risk level (thus, applying the downsides mentioned prior), it decreases your own, along with a nice stun. It doesn't cost anything, so there's no real downside to it.
Just uh, if the boss is using a super attack, just dodge- if it fails then you'll be in skill lock and take a bit more damage from the attack. Attacks starting with a large yellow lens flare effect tend to be unparryable so just avoid them if you can.

That is literally it really, there are many risk related skills and abilities in HF hidden to the player within the implementation system, for more information on implements see the related section further in the guide.

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Risk Break: When the enemy reaches risk 5, their movements are extremely slow and do far less damage, this is literally what saves you from knight bosses and dragons who relentlessly murder you with AoE attacks and annoying debuffs.

Parry: Skill from the start of the game, initiate a lengthy counter stance which reflects physical attacks and stuns enemies.

They are pretty annoying at times, not the best AI for sure- but they can be incredibly helpful.

There are a LOT of commands to use, some in particular being this:



"Stop that move!" Orders your partner to use a stun attack which works similarly to your exact onslaught skill. It has a long cooldown but can save you in a pinch.

"Shift to defense!" Makes your partner use defensive skills focusing on reducing damage taken and applying buffs to the party, this is most effective with characters such as Liz or any other tanky partner character. It also helps just in case an enemy is highly agile and attacks a lot and you don't want them getting killed.

"Draw them to you!" Makes your partner increase their hate value so they take aggro away from you. Unlike switch this neither stuns them nor resets your risk, but helpful if you're in trouble with no available options.

"Withdraw to the rear!" Causes your partner to literally flying raijin to your back, from long distances this looks hilarious, but it's super good in making them steer clear of a bosses' attack since they tend to jog into the line of fire. You can spam this to keep them there actually.

Additional options are:



"Good Job!" Tell your buddy well done for the move or combinations they did with you. Be nice to your friend. Or Waifu. This is actually good as it replenishes both you and their's SP. If you want to BUILD a partner to be more offensive, defensive or supportive, use the Good Job command when they do actions relating to that and they will do it more commonly. I just did it whenever we used skills together so I can get more damage off but, you do you.

"Replenish HP!" Your buddy will (Hopefully) pull an item out their ass and restore health. Use BEFORE they're in a critical state as the healing tends to take a while, especially if they're mid-animation.

"Use your skills!" Provoke a skill usage from your partner, for when you have nothing to use or if you want to forcibly start a team attack for more damage.

"Switch!" We talked about this. Use it a lot.

You'll notice that they perform 'supportive', 'offensive' and 'defensive' skills in their character information grid*. As I mentioned, using the "Good Job!" command will heighten these when used appropriately. To those of you unaware, when you max out a grid of a partner you can get a special armour for them, max them all out and you get their OP armour. Cool stuff, so be sure to praise them for literally breathing.

Aside from that, they do ask you to stun enemies, switch, use a skill etc. Be sure to try and follow through with these actions for maximum damage output and success (plus they increase your affinity and grids nicely so yeah).

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Grid/Character Information: When you talk to a character they have a window, and a tab called "character information". You can see three different grids coloured red, green and blue. These go up by using the "good" command whenever they do an action in relativity to that type.


Also, to see where the armours are, it should be in the view armour parameters section from when you talk to them, if you have maxed a grid out there will be one there.

This is gonna be short.

Be aware that you can only stack up to 12(?) debuffs at any given time, so don't bother going over like 6 skills that increase speed since it's kinda pointless.

For the best results, try using a protective skill such as "Protective Coat"* and Protection Prayer (you're given it at the start) to maintain high health.
It's completely up to you, but balancing 8 or so buffs sorrounding basic defense, strength, and speed will help you efficiently defeat enemies.

(I also recommend using the "EXP Gain"* skill from the searching skill submenu near the top for grinding, along with the "Enemy Search"* skill in the same area for easy navigation of areas you haven't seen yet.

I can't really make a full guide on what buffs to get, since most skills target you and not the enemy, but for say Dual Blades, I would focus on strength and attack speed, followed by a protection skill and regeneration buff to keep yourself on the offensive as you switch, stun etc.

Do notice how I said up to 8 buffs, feel free to use more, it's just that if you get debuffed by a boss, it will eliminate existing buffs, so be careful not to waste SP and time.

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EXP Gain: Literally a buff that gives you +15% exp from enemies, there is also a passive skill in that section which increases your exp by +10%, good for levelling should you need it.

Enemy Search: Isn't required at all, but it helps you see where enemies are alongside the stronger types (which have darker dots) so you can guess pathways and navigate easier.

I'm rewriting this section since it's actually simplistic despite the billion abilities.

In Hollow Fragment, you will find that when an enemy is of higher level (compared to you) it becomes significantly harder to inflict any type of debuff upon them. Some are more effective than others such as lethargy which basically makes them super slow/stuck in place compared to bleeding which is far less effective on basically any enemy since their HP pool is ungodly.

But really that's all well and good, the real issue is debuffs on yourself.

Paralysis - indicated by a yellow electric discharge icon, it steadily depletes over time but does not impact your character until it is halfway down. Once at half, you will remain unable to do anything and stuck in place. It would be wise to switch aggro with your partner prior to that using switch and/or cure it. Alternatively, and hear me out, just get hit with the paralysis again.

Seriously, get hit again. If you are hit with paralysis whilst it is already ticking down, it will reset the clock and overall have more movement time.

Bleeding - Not too big a deal, just counter it wish passive healing buffs or simply purify it. If you're hit with several stacks you should probably purify though, or just... well... Stack more heals.

Darkness - You'll have less accuracy. You can't get countered or anything it kinda is just a nuisance, but bear in mind every moment you miss an attack the enemy could launch a skill so, play with caution lest you get knocked sky high missing all 16 hits of Starburst Stream or something.
- Note, higher level enemies require more accuracy to hit sometimes, so this can be super annoying.

Poison - Same as bleeding really, every time you are hit with poison it adds a new stack adding to the damage value. Best to out heal it or purify immediately.

Lethargy - Indicated by a boot icon. Very rare debuff but it slows you to a crawl for movement and makes dodging sluggish. If you can parry an enemy it would be wise to do so while this is active.
Bind - This is similar to lethargy except you cannot move at all, you can still attack though. This is the effect inflicted with the starting skill for Dual Blades "Spinning Totality".

Stat Downs - Well they're self explanatory, I would just be cautious of HP debuffs since in this game it's easy to look away and find 50% missing.


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Purification Options:
Purifying Flames- Found within the sub-skills of the "Grace" skill tree. 8 Points to claim. It instantly heals all debuffs present within your party.
Charm to Disaster - Within the "Grace" skill tree, applies a debuff clone for the active character that takes a debuff for you then vanishes. Alternatively there is a physical clone skill just above it- "Illusory Guard" and "Mercy Cloak" which affects the whole party, but I'm not sure if it really helps against debuffs.
Items - Yup, very expensive though. You can buy them which will cost you an arm and a leg but you can also find crystals in chests.
Brawny Resist - Part of the "Bodybuilding" skill tree, not always reliable but will mitigate the effects of debuffs to a degree or remove them entirely, also increases HP.
Resist Attempt - Part of the "Survival" skill tree, same as above but without the HP bonus. Dedicated to mitigating and potentially dispelling debuffs on you.
Physical Beat - Part of the "Survival" skill tree, this does not PURIFY debuffs but will grant RESISTANCE at a set value whilst increasing defense. This is like a shield rather than the med-pack for it but it isn't always reliable.

For regeneration effects, your starting healing ability alongside basically all the skills in the "Survival" skill tree are extremely useful. If you solely rely on them and your defense is high enough, you just might be invincible. Hey- just like that one scene in the show. Don't rely on it though since they do have large cooldowns.

In the Hollow Area, you will find the "Implementation System" which is effectively your gateway to godhood.

There are so many different tasks and missions it would literally take forever to explain them all, but the benefits are typically self explanatory. Take on a task from the implement list, complete it, unlock it with Hollow Points (obtained from Hollow Area Missions seen on the map) and vice versa. One specific tree is basically integral to officially breaking your character.

OSS - Original Sword Skill

Basically, you can link skills together. A feature you might recognise from later installations of SAO games.


In this skill tree, your missions will effectively be to use sword skills a set number of times which is sadly both the easiest and most annoying due to the time it takes.
If you're not reading this guide however.

Let me tell you a little secret:


This skill, Exact Onslaught is registered as a 'Sword Skill' for every weapon type. You are given it at the beginning of the game as a high cooldown stun attack which loses its effect while on cooldown but, at the same time, still usable.

Yeah, go into that skill menu (as in the full one, not your quick menu) and just spam the ever living hell out of it.
Open menu -> Use -> Open menu -> Use. Over and over.


What makes this funnier is that if you do it fast enough, it does 2 counts instead of one for the skill record limit. I dunno why but god I'm glad it exists.

Do remember you must be in a Hollow Mission before the count begins and the game checks for the implementation requirement, also ensure you are taking on the right Mission RANK, as sometimes you must take on rank 2 or higher in more difficult challenges.

Anyways.

Original Sword Skills:

The main plus with them is that combat will feel much more active and fluent, allowing you to use several skills in tandem and increasing the strength of each successive skill. Do note that "Ultimate" skills such as Starburst Stream or The Eclipse cannot be linked once used, but can be utilised as finishing skills at the end of a link chain.

The implementation missions will effectively allow you to chain more and more skills up to a generous amount, also known as forever so long as you have skills to use. In fact, in Infinity Moment sword skills cost SP rather than being cooldown based, so it was possible to literally use infinite skills this way.

I honestly think this is the real way to play HF, and more fun. No wonder it became integral in later games.

Outside this, there are many other implementations you can do, one of my favourites I mentioned in the Risk awareness section known as 'Brave Delay' which literally risk breaks a target.

And this skill I didn't unlock in this screenshot which literally removes risk gain on dodges which is super helpful but a pain to unlock.

There are WAY more to go through, but just some examples to set you off. Feel free to look and see what you like.
Beyond skills there are exclusive weapons, armours and effects attained solely through this system. It's an ungodly grind but, maybe it'll be worth it huh?

Anyways, that's all from me- good luck out there.

There are quite a few enemy types out there that are annoying, and of course- you're going to slip up, but with correct skill and tactic management you can wipe out enemies that are far beyond your own level.

Well, I hope this helped you all in your troubles with the game and I wish you all good luck in completing the death game.

Thank you all for reading!

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Also, little secret.

Affinity grinding is ass and the dating system is also ass, but I grew to love it for how silly it is.
For easy affinity, take your partner to the fountain by Agil's shop and provoke the yellow chat window there.

EVERY answer is "Right!", spam that over and over and trigger the same conversation for easy affinity. Once they're at max mood, you can take them to the stairs in Agil's shop and princess carry them up. Walk over to the bed and boom, pillow talk scene.

Just remember that if you are seen the carry will end and you'll have to do it alllll again. Hencewhy do it by the stairs, NOT in the room, since the mood increases a level doing the carry and going into the room, so carrying within the room will not trigger the necessary mood level for the scene.

Have fun!