Character level grants Growth Points; attributes affect damage and resources; Weapon EXP develops a weapon family; Smithy enhancement improves an individual weapon; Cardinal Rank unlocks stronger shops and crafting while raising the world's challenge.
Cardinal Rank readiness check
Save a checkpoint label and finish the six preparations before taking the next fixed-level or boss quest.
The seven attributes
| Attribute | Main role | Spend when |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | Damage scaling for relevant weapons and skills | Your equipped weapon displays Strength scaling |
| Dexterity | Damage scaling for relevant weapons and skills | Your build benefits from Dexterity scaling or milestones |
| Agility | Damage scaling for relevant weapons and skills | Your fast weapon or skill package uses Agility |
| Intelligence | Damage scaling for relevant abilities; also part of SP-focused planning | Your equipment or skill set benefits from it |
| Vitality | HP | You cannot survive mistakes long enough to learn a fight |
| Endurance | Stamina | Attacks, guards, or dodges repeatedly leave you empty |
| Mind | SP capability | Your Sword Skill rotation runs out before its job is done |
Spend around displayed scaling
Inspect the equipped weapon and Sword Skills before assigning Growth Points. Two weapons from the same family can have different scaling or unique effects. Early concentration in the main damage attribute creates a clearer return than evenly distributing points, but resource stats become valuable when the combat loop is limited by HP, Stamina, or SP.
Cardinal Rank is both unlock and pressure
Cardinal Rank rises through Main Quest progress and discovering new towns. It determines which items can be purchased or forged, improves available rewards, advances partner capability, and causes monsters to increase in difficulty to a degree.
If you are looking for a numeric cap or keep confusing rank with character level, use the separate max level and Cardinal Rank guide. It also saves a preparation checklist for every rank increase.
Do not confuse the progression layers
- Character level: provides Growth Points.
- Attributes: shape damage and resource pools.
- Weapon EXP / proficiency: develops one weapon family and unlocks Sword Skills.
- Weapon enhancement: raises one item's parameters.
- EX-Mod synthesis: customizes effects on the target item.
- Cardinal Rank: advances world, shop, recipe, partner, and enemy tiers.
A reliable upgrade checkpoint
- Confirm the weapon family still fits your preferred defense and timing.
- Spend Growth Points where the weapon actually scales.
- Equip three Sword Skills with different jobs.
- Review new drops for scaling, unique effects, and EX-Mod donors.
- Enhance one target instead of six experiments.
- Update the selected partner and restock supplies.