Ni no Kuni 2 Skirmish Battles Guide - How to Win Skirmish Battles, How to Bolster Your Forces, How to Upgrade Your Army
Here's our complete Ni no Kuni 2 guide walkthrough, including how to forge weapons and armor, complete controls and combat guide, as well as how to earn XP and level up quickly. We'll also be going over every Higgledy Stone location in Ni no Kuni 2.
Skirmish battles are introduced in the third chapter of Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, and they see Evan taking his army to war with opposing factions scattered throughout the world. In this Ni no Kuni 2 Skirmish guide, we’ll be walking you through how to bolster your forces, as well as how to upgrade your army, so you stand the best possible chance of winning on the field of battle.
If you instead need anything else relating to Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, including how to get to grips with the combat mechanics of the JRPG, as well as a complete beginner guide and story primer, head over to our Ni no Kuni 2 guides walkthrough hub.
Ni no Kuni 2 Skirmish Battles Guide
The Skirmish battles of Ni no Kuni 2 basically function as an opportunity for Evan to lead his army on the field of battle, but the actual fighting itself functions more as a complex rock, paper, scissors battle. Luckily, Ni no Kuni 2 eases you into this way of fighting, giving you just two units to control when Skirmish battles are first introduced.
These two units are the red swordsmen and the yellow archers, and both units stand either side of Evan. You move around the battlefield as Evan, with the two units flanking you on either side. You can rotate the units around by holding down either the left or right bumpers on the Dualshock 4 controller, and you’ll want to rotate them to give your units the best matchups against the opposing army units.
We mentioned that Skirmish battles in Ni no Kuni 2 are a lot like rock, paper, scissors, and this is where that element comes into play. Every type of unit in a Skirmish battle with fight well against other units, and not so well against other types of units. For example, your red swordsmen will be great when taking on archer units in combat, but they’ll get slaughtered if you face them off against hammer or spear units. Similarly, you’ll want to keep your archer units either at your back or on your flank, so your swordsmen or hammer units face the enemy full on at the front of your group.
Sometimes, you’ll see either a red or blue line going from your army units to the opposition, or vice versa, and this indicates any mismatches between units. If you see a blue line going from your unit to an enemy unit, it means your unit works well against the opposing unit, but if you see a red line going from an enemy unit to one of your own units, it means your unit isn’t going to fare well in battle, so you should rotate your forces accordingly.
At any point during the battle, you can hold down Circle to spend your battle points on summoning reinforcements, replacing deceased comrades from units. It doesn’t even matter if an entire unit is wiped clean off the board—you can still summon your allies up to replace any dead soldiers. It’s critical that you use this ability whenever you get the chance, as if your forces completely dwindle, it’s game over for Evan and his army.
How to Upgrade Your Army in Ni no Kuni 2
Bolstering and upgrading your army for the Skirmish battle ahead of you is actually pretty simple. Just head to the ‘bolster forces’ option when you reach the Skirmish menu, and you’ll find the opportunity to spend Kingsguilders on purchasing temporary upgrades for Evan’s army for the fight ahead.
You’ll have the option to spend 1,500 Kingsguilders on upgrading the overall might of your army, therefore making the battle ahead of your significantly easier, or you can purchase other options for the lesser price of 500 Kingsguilders. For example, you can increase the health of your units, or you can increase the rate at which reinforcements arrive for your army when your hold down Circle.
It’s up to you to select upgrades for your army based on how many Kingsguilders you have available to spend at the time, although you can actually purchase as many upgrades as you want at once for your army.
We might be all done with this complete Skirmish battles guide, but why not continue ahead to our other Ni no Kuni 2 guides, including our full Ni no Kuni 2 combat guide.
If you want to see what we made of the massive JRPG from Level 5, head on over to our in depth Ni no Kuni 2 review, where we break down where the game excels, and where it falters.