Valkyria Chronicles 4 for the Nintendo Switch: Tips and tricks

In the continent of Europa, war is brewing between the Atlantic Federation and the Eastern Imperial Alliance. This is known as the Second Europan War, and players must take to the battlefield and command their units properly to come out of the war zones alive.

If you've never played a Valkyria Chronicles game before, then yes, the turn-based strategy warfare in the game series can seem a bit intimidating. Fortunately, Valkyria Chronicles 4 welcomes anyone to play, and it has a very in-depth tutorial that shows everyone the ropes.

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We've also gathered up some more tips and tricks to help you best your foes on the battlefield, so let's dive in!

• There's no shame in playing on Easy
• Save on every turn
• Deploy as many Leaders as you can
• Always have Engineers on the battlefield
• Keep Snipers near Engineers
• Get the most out of Scouts and Shocktroopers
• Only deploy Lancers if you know there are enemy tanks
• Take cover behind sandbags, rubble, and in tall grass
• Use your vehicles as cover if needed
• Heal up with Ragnaid
• Don't start with the max number of deployed units
• Do the buddy system with units that like each other
• Understand every character's Potentials
• Always aim for the head

There's no shame in playing on Easy

When you start Valkyria Chronicles 4, you'll get a prompt to choose your difficulty level in the beginning. There's Easy and Normal. If you've never played a Valkyria Chronicles game before, or just want to enjoy the story without worrying about combat, then I would recommend going with Easy. You can change the difficulty level later too, so it's not permanent.

Save on every turn

Valkyria Chronicles 4 allows players to save their game whenever they darn well please, so you should absolutely take advantage. To do so, just press the minus button (on the left Joy-Con), then select System and Save. The game lets you have as many save slots as you need, so save often!

OK, so maybe saving on every turn may be a bit much. However, if something goes wrong on your turn, you can simply go back to the menu and reload your last save and plan out your moves differently since you'd know how the enemy moves. If something doesn't go the way you want, you can always reload and try again. So if you don't save on every turn, at least save often!

Deploy as many Leaders as you can

Leaders are incredibly important to deploy in battle since they provide your team with CP bonuses. CP is the number of moves you can make each turn, so the more CP you have, the more times you can move and take action on the battlefield. Once you run out of available CP, your phase ends. Unused CP also gets carried over to your next phase, in case you want to go that route.

Always have Engineers on the battlefield

Engineers are one of your most important units to have on the battlefield at any given time. That's because they serve as both healers and mechanics, keeping your squad in tip-top shape. They can provide ammo to your other units, including tanks, and can heal teammates if they're hurt.

Keep Snipers near Engineers

Snipers are some of the most powerful units since they don't need to move much and can take out many enemy foot soldiers from across the map. However, their major weakness is the amount of ammo that they have, which is low at around three.

Since Engineers provide ammo for other units just by touching them, always make sure to keep Snipers and Engineers close together. That way your Sniper doesn't run out of ammo and the Engineer can provide cover fire when enemies get too close.

Engineers are also important to keep near Lancers and Grenadiers as well since they also have limited ammo supplies.

Get the most out of Scouts and Shocktroopers

Scouts and Shocktroopers should be some of your most deployed units, and they're more plentiful than other unit types.

Why are Scouts great? They have the greatest movement speed out of all units and can take down pretty much anything quickly if they can land those headshots. This comes in handy since you're graded on each mission by how fast you complete it. Since Scouts can get from one side of a map to the other in just a few turns, they can clear objectives fast.

Shocktroopers are similar to Scouts, but with slightly lower movement but higher defense and attack power. They're better used for clearing out foes while Scouts claim objectives.

Only deploy Lancers if you know there are enemy tanks

Lancers are incredibly powerful foot soldiers who can take out tanks with their rocket launchers. However, these units are best kept in reserve unless you know that the enemy squad has an incoming tank. Since most enemy soldiers will be on foot, Lancers will be wasted on them.

Once you use a Lancer to take out enemy tanks, you can have the Lancer retreat so another deployment slot opens up for a unit that is best equipped to take out remaining enemy troops.

Take cover behind sandbags, rubble, and tall grass

This game is all about war, and that means taking advantage of anything that helps you survive. On most maps, you'll find various obstacles, such as sandbags or structural debris that you can take cover behind, making it harder for enemies to hit you. You can also crouch behind sandbags by pressing the A button when the action prompt appears.

Tall grass can also be found on various maps, and you can hide in the grass to prevent being spotted by enemies. This is especially handy for snipers since you want to limit their movement anyways.

Use your vehicles as cover if needed

If you need cover but can't find anything, make use of your tanks! They provide excellent cover for your foot soldiers because they're tough and durable. They're also large enough for at least one or two units if you're in a pinch.

Enemy fire basically bounces off your tanks and forces enemy troops to go around your vehicle to reach your soldiers, leaving themselves wide open. Tanks provide mobile cover, so you should always have a tank out, even if you don't intend on using it for offensive maneuvers.

Heal up with Ragnaid

Sometimes you'll end up just spending your CP to get the proper positioning for your troops. This could mean you end up taking some hits when the enemy gets close enough, or if you were sniped from afar.

All troops carry an item called Ragnaid. This lets them self-heal, even without an Engineer around. If you find your troops unable to attack or have nothing to do and they've lost some health points, just use the Ragnaid to heal up instead of just standing around.

In the art of war, it's always better to have your troops at full health versus half-health.

Don't start with the max number of deployed units

In each mission, you can deploy at least 10 units. However, it's not wise to go for the max number right away for a few reasons.

First, it's unlikely that you'll end up with enough CP to move everyone that you deploy, so only send out enough troops to get going. You can capture enemy bases by taking their flag away and putting yours up at their camps, and this is when you would want to deploy more units.

Think of it as a warp point. Once you get more bases on the map, you can send in stronger units into the fray, while skipping all of that initial setup in the beginning.

Another reason for having a smaller squad out is being able to move one unit multiple times, rather than thinking about moving everyone. Experimenting with strategy is an important factor of the game.

Do the buddy system with units that like each other

All of your units have teammates that they "like." You should pay attention to these details throughout the story since there are plenty of benefits to pairing up units.

For one, pairing your troops with squad members they like can lead to combo attacks on the battlefield, which means taking down enemies faster. It also leads into Squad Stories, which are self-contained chapters that let you get to know certain characters better. These contain unique battles that unlock powerful new Potentials for the involved units.

Understand every character's Potentials

Every unit has Potential. These are skills that activate once certain conditions and triggers are met, and can give them positive or negative buffs. You can view every unit's Potentials on their info page before deploying them.

In the beginning, there may be a few Potentials that give you a debuff. However, there are side chapters that you can play through to turn these negative Potentials into positive ones, so you should do any and all missions, if possible. You'll also gain valuable experience for your units, leveling them up to become stronger.

Always aim for the head

If you want to take down your enemies faster, it's crucial to aim for their heads in Valkyria Chronicles 4. Headshots deal more damage and are usually enough to take them down — if they hit, of course.

Sometimes it's hard to get those headshots, which is understandable. Still, aiming for their body won't make them fall quickly enough, as they'll usually still be standing and can heal up at a base or by using Ragnaid.

The art of war is not easy

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a challenging turn-based strategy RPG that combines turn-based warfare strategy with real-time battle, and it's done beautifully. Even if you have never played a Valkyria Chronicles game before, anyone can jump into this one since it's a standalone story, requiring no previous experience.

Plus, the game has Ragnarok, a medical Shiba Inu K-9 unit. I mean, how can you say no to that?

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