Tales of Vesperia is a combo heavy game that asks its players to juggle different kinds of skills, attacks, and elements together in very intricate ways. Players who make the most out of these skills have the most success, but it can be daunting to dive deep into what makes each move good.
Every character has a selection of base artes and arcane artes that help them combo into their mystic artes or other powerful attacks. Learning which moves allow for the best combination attacks is the first step in understanding what makes an arte good or not. Other factors are if the element the arte uses is valuable or if it helps teammates during battle.
Yuri
As the protagonist of the story, Yuri gets a lot of different artes throughout the game and it can be difficult to tell them apart or see why they'd be useful. His game plan is generally to keep enemies stunned or airborne as long as he can while attacking them with a flurry of attacks. Playing Yuri correctly means the enemy won't have a chance to counter.
His best base artes for this are Destruction Field and Tiger Blade. Destruction Field puts enemies in a good deal of hit stun and can be enhanced to have a large area of effect, stunning multiple enemies. Tiger Blade launches enemies into the air, making it so they can't attack back. For arcane artes, Dragon Swarm and Brutal Fang are the best. Dragon Swarm is a long combo that stuns enemies and can be canceled. Brutal Fang is another long combo arte that also topples enemies.
Estellise
Estellise is a healing character who also focuses on mid range attacks. Her damage isn't the best but her healing artes are the best in the game, which makes her valuable on any team. She has some value as an offensive character, but even her best base artes aren't for offense.
Her best base arte is Cavalry which boosts her defense and prevents stagger while spell casting. This ability is insanely useful for situations where she has to get a heal or buff cast to the party. Star Stroke is also a pretty strong projectile that can guard break enemies after enough uses. Her best arcane arte is Delight Roll after it has been enhanced. The move lets players choose to knock an enemy down to reset a situation, or leave them standing to continue a combo.
Rita
Rita is all about casting high damage spells and attacking multiple enemies at once with their areas of effect. Her base and arcane artes are useful in certain situations but players will mostly focus on her magic during tough fights.
Her best base arte is either Rudolf or Descartes since both deal solid damage and can help other characters get better combos because of stun or guard break. In terms of arcane artes, they're all pretty good but Ideal causes an aerial knockdown and can be used in the air after canceled from other moves, so it's versatile and extremely useful.
Karol
Karol is a heavy hitter that dishes out loads of burst damage with his hammer attacks. His skills often cost a lot of TP and are slow to start, but he's fun for fans of the character. As a melee type, his base and arcane artes are his main source of damage.
In terms of base artes, Roaring Revolution, and Nice Recovery/ Curing Smash are his most notable techniques. Roaring Revolution is great for combos and his Nice Smash moves can cure and heal allies in a certain area of effect that grows as the move is used more. As for his arcane artes, Reaper Knock and Devil Rage Rise are probably his most useful. Reaper Knock causes a knockdown and fires a short range projectile while Devl Rage Rise is a large arching swing against an enemy.
Judith
Judith is a melee and mobility based character with tons of useful skills. Players can use her to fill a few different roles because of her versatility, so be sure to experiment with arte load outs when including her in a party.
For Judith, basically any arte with the word Luna in it, is great. More often than not, these moves will combo into each other or cause a guard break/ stun effect, opening the enemy up for more damage. Other than her Luna artes, her Thunder Moon, Moon Glare, and Rising Moonlight Havoc are some of her other fantastic artes.
Repede
As the fastest character in the game, Repede's game plan revolves around his quick recovery and dealing damage by chipping away at his enemies. His artes also activate and finish pretty quickly so it's important to get a feel for his speed before he can be used effectively.
Punishing Fang and Shadow Fang are great base artes that have a lot of hits and can reset combos against downed enemies. His best base arte for status effects is Gale Dog which provides a status effect that allows for complete evasion of all damage for 5 seconds. This is insanely good in checkmate situations. His arcane artes are pretty similar in efficacy, being used for combo extensions rather than big damage. Cyclone Shot and Demon Spear are must-have moves in the arcane arte department.
Raven
Raven's unique fighting style allows him to switch between long range and close range attacks on the fly, while dealing pretty good damage all the while. His base and arcane artes vary in efficacy depending on the player's style but some are staples to his game play.
Rain and Serpent are key base arts that help set up his game plan. They control the arena and space around enemies, restricting their approach against him and casters. He actually has quite a few great arcane artes that players should explore like Cyan Instant, Azure Heavens, Crime, and Punishment.
Flynn
Flynn is a pretty basic character to get the hang of who plays like characters from older Tales Of games. All of his best artes share the names of essential Tales Of moves, so where his style comes from is pretty obvious.
Sword Rain is a great base arte that increases combo count easily and can chain into most of his other artes. Tiger Blade and Severing Blade are also fantastic in terms of damage and speed which wraps up his best base artes. As for arcane artes, players have a lot to choose from but the ones that really stand out are Dragon Swarm and Guardian Field. Dragon Swarm is insanely versatile and links from other artes. Guardian Field is a great healing alternative in case the casters are slow to support Flynn.
Patty
Gifted with a unique fighting style that lets her change modes during battle, Patty is one of the most interesting characters to play as in Tales Of Vesperia. Her strongest mode that players should focus on is Critical Mode which makes her one of the strongest characters in the game.
Following up on her mode mechanic, Form Change becomes her most useful base arte, which allows her to change between modes to critical mode. Other than that, her base artes aren't much to talk about besides Trick Trick which is a staple in most of her combos. Her best arcane artes are Trick Or Treat, Severed Fate, and Little Big Chef.