Chained Echoes: How To Lower Heat | Overdrive System Explained

The Overdrive System is another overwhelming system in Chained Echoes that early-game players are struggling to handle. The Overdrive System is all about controlling heat — powerful attacks generate heat, while defending and healing lowers heat. Taking damage also generates heat, so you’ll always put your team at risk if you generate too much heat and stray into the “red” area. Each heat zone has a different effect, and you’ll always want to stay out of the red area on your meter. There’s more nuance to this system than you might realize, including alternate ways to lower your heat even very early in the game. If you’re struggling with the Overdrive System and need help, here’s a few tips to keep your heat under control.

More Chained Echoes guides:

All Best Weapon Locations | All Class Emblem Locations | Leonar’s Challenges Solutions | All Clan Recruit Locations | All Unique Monster Locations | How To Farm SP | How To Farm Gold | How To Farm Crystals | Best Passive Skill | Best Sky Armor Build | Best Sky Armor Location | How To Get Golden Voucher | ‘A Goblin’s Dilemma’ Side-quest Guide | How To Fight The Secret God King Boss

Overdrive System | How It Works

The Overdrive System is an integral part of winning battles in Chained Echoes. If you let Overdrive get out-of-control and get stuck in the red zone, you can very easily lose a battle. The trick to all fights is carefully managing your meter and staying in the green zone.

• Green Zone Buffs: Deal +25% more damage to enemies, take -15% less damage from enemies, and all skills cost half TP.

The damage / defense buff is incredibly useful, but the TP cost is what really matters here. By halving TP costs, you can use attacks twice as often before restoring. That gives you a huge advantage in momentum.

• NOTE: It is ALWAYS better get out of the Green Zone than stay in the Red Zone. If you’re in the Red Zone, don’t attack unless you’re one turn away from winning a battle. The Red Zone severely debuffs your entire team.

The tricky part is staying out of the red. If you want to keep your heat under control, you can use the following tricks. Early players (like me!) struggled with keeping heat in check. Here are some simple features you need to know about.

• How To Lower Heat: The basic method for lowering heat is Defending, Healing, or using Buffs. Any defensive / support skills will lower heat. Attack skills will raise heat.
  • You can also lower heat with attacks. Every turn, a symbol appears in the top-left corner. If you select a skill that matches this symbol (magic, physical attack, etc) this attack type will lower heat instead of raising it.
  • Any skills that match the symbol in the top-left corner will be marked in yellow. This skill type will randomly change every turn, so it isn’t always in your favor. Keep an eye out and use it when you can to keep your heat low.
  • You can also use Ultimate attacks to lower heat by a huge amount. Save your Ultimate attacks not just for dealing damage or buffing, but also controlling your heat.

Enemies can rapidly increase heat. If you’re fighting a large group of enemies, they can very quickly increase your heat by attacking multiple times. Later boss fights will also feature opponents that can take multiple turns before you can act — be wary of how much heat enemies can generate on your party and be prepared to control it. You can also purchase items that can help lower heat.