10 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth battle tips and tricks

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes the combat system of Yakuza: Like a Dragon and turns up the heat even more. While it’s still a turn-based game, there’s so much more than selecting an enemy and hitting the attack button. Here are a few battle tips to help you out.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth battle tips

There are many battle mechanics in this game. While the game does an okay job of explaining them all, the sheer amount of them can be quite overwhelming. Not to mention, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. The following are tactics I use in almost every fight and helped me breeze through the game.

Don’t level a job past level 30

As soon as I unlocked jobs, one of the first things I asked was, “What is the maximum job level”? The maximum job level is 99. So, should you level a job until the max level? Absolutely not. In fact, leveling past job rank 30 makes very little sense while progressing through the story. By level 30, you’ll have unlocked every single job ability, after which you’ll only gain status points (and not that many). I suggest that once you get to level 30, you switch to a different job and keep the skills you liked from the first one (through Skill Inheritance). The extra status points you get past level 30 hardly seem worth it when compared to all other abilities you can earn from other jobs.

Don’t go easy on Ultimate and team attacks

If you are anything like me, you like to save your strongest attacks for the “tougher fights.” Well, in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, you really shouldn’t do that. Ultimate attacks and Tag attacks charge like crazy. The higher your bond level with a character, the faster they will charge. Whenever you have an ultimate attack, don’t be afraid to use it. Seriously, it will fill before you know it. During a single boss fight, I was able to use the same Ultimate attack three times because of how fast it charges. Don’t save ultimates, spend them.

Swap weapons between characters

One thing you’ll realize very soon in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is that money is scarce. There is a way to make a ton of money, but you only unlock it near the end of the game. In the meanwhile, you still have to equip your entire party with weapons and equipment, which obviously costs. I suggest you buy four sets of the best gear and best weapons you can afford and swap them between your two parties (and extra characters). Yes, you can do that, even between your Japan and Hawaii parties. So, be frugal, swap weapons and armor, and use the extra savings to upgrade the workshop, and pay for Ichiban’s vocational school courses or the cabaret club (I’m not judging).

Every character should have a healing ability

Remember when I said you shouldn’t level a job past level 30? Well, it’s also a good idea to pick a job with a good healing ability (such as the Geodancer or the Aquanaut) and level them up first. Why do that? After you unlock all job abilities, you can use the Skill Inheritance system to carry them over to other jobs. Tomizawa may be a Samurai now, but because he got to level 30 as an Aquanaut, he can make a beach BBQ and heal the entire party. 

You should do this for all your characters. Everyone should be ready to heal in case things go wrong. Desperados have a great self-healing ability, while Aquanauts have a fantastic ability to heal the entire party. Meanwhile, Geodancers (female characters only) probably have the best healing ultimate in the game. 

Combo attacks

Let me start by saying that you should bond with your fellow teammates. Not only will this give you some great side stories, but it will also help you out in battles. So fill those bond bingo cards and work on those drink links because they will go a long way. The first thing you unlock after raising someone’s bond and going through their Drink Link is the combo attacks. While you are targeting an enemy, stand next to your teammate; you will see a combo attack icon above their heads. If you attack the enemy, this will have both you and your teammate charge at the enemy, essentially giving you two attacks.

While this is great, it’s not always ideal. A combo attack does mean two attacks, but it’s two generic blunt attacks (enemy weakness isn’t applied). Still, a combo attack is a good way to knock an enemy down, which is great for tip #4.

Knock enemies towards your teammates

Similar to combo attacks, if you circle around an enemy, you’ll notice a green arrow indicating the direction they are going to be knocked towards. Try always to aim enemies at your teammates. Sometimes, your teammates will do an extra attack on an enemy that flies toward them, so use this to get another extra attack.

Follow-up attacks

I love follow-up attacks. If your bond level is high enough with one of your teammates, they may do an extra attack after you finish yours. You can do a combo attack with two characters (two attacks) and have a third character run in to do one more follow-up attack for free. So, that’s three attacks in just one turn. Follow-up attacks don’t always activate, but the higher your bond with a character, the more likely it is that they will do a follow-up attack. Follow-up attacks only work on downed enemies, so make sure you use an ability that has knockback (especially if you are fighting a boss).

Enemy weaknesses

If an enemy is weak against a weapon type, use that to your advantage. Well, duh! Why am I even telling you this? Because it’s often tempting to do a combo or even an environment attack and not realize that a regular weapon attack will do the most damage. So, if an enemy is weak against your sword or gun, don’t do a combo with a teammate. Tell them to wait until you exploit an enemy’s weakness.

Back attacks

Whenever you can, do back attacks; all back attacks do double damage. You can also combine this with an enemy weakness for even more damage. The absolute best-case scenario is doing a combo back attack (which doesn’t always work) and having another teammate do a follow-up attack. If an enemy is looking in your direction but not targeting you, go around them for a back attack if you can. However, if an enemy is targeting you, there’s not much you can do.

Your character level is the most important 

In most RPGs, if you are having trouble fighting an enemy or a boss, it usually means you need to find a tactic or an exploit. This isn’t the case in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Sure, exploiting an enemy’s weakness does help out, but more than that, just being the same or at a higher level is the more important thing. Even being one level above an enemy can make the fight significantly easier. So, if you are struggling with a boss, don’t bother finding a better tactic. Instead, just get a few levels in, and you should be able to breeze through any fight. Seriously, save yourself the headache and just grind for a bit. A higher level gives you more power, better defense, and more opportunities to attack. It’s not difficult, and it sure beats taking repeated strong hits from strong enemies.