One Piece Treasure Cruise is an action-RPG with a unique turn-based combat system. Based on the popular manga/anime series, Bandai Namco’s epic game will appeal to both RPG and OPTC fans. One might think that this game is the predecessor of One Piece Bounty Rush, but gameplay-wise these two are poles apart!
One Piece Treasure Cruise has an innovative tap-based battle system won’t make you feel bored. It’s still one of the best One Piece games on Android. A tutorial mode will explain all the battle basics. Once you are familiar with the combat mechanics, you will find these tips and strategies quite useful:
1. Don’t Go for Perfect Attacks Every Time: Missed Attacks Break a Combo:
When you tap on an enemy, you have a few seconds to create a chain of multiple attacks. You score a “Perfect” attack when you select an ally after all action words like “Bam” collide. But you don’t have to wait that long. Just tap on a team member when action words gather a little closer. This will let you score a “Great” attack.
You can easily make a chain of Great attacks to inflict damage to enemies. However, it’s not easy to make a chain of Perfect attacks. You may wait a few milliseconds to get that perfect hit, but chances of missed attacks are also high. Timing is crucial and a slight delay in tapping on an ally will make action words pass out of range, breaking the chain.
Enemies can be defeated faster by stringing a chain of “Perfect” attacks, but Great or Good attacks also deal a good amount of damage to enemies. Try practicing these two attacks first before you get your rhythm right. You may also chain a string of “Good – Great – Perfect” attacks to make battle a little less stressful. Just avoid “Misses” as they break a combo. The game’s innovative battle mechanics focuses more on timing than anything else.
2. Doom! Doom! Pirate:
Now that you have successfully chained a string of Good, Great or Perfect attacks, use the Doom button for that ultimate strike. The Doom button appears when you have successfully strung a chain of attacks. Tap on it when your last ally hits and action words cluster together. You don’t need a string of perfect attacks for the Doom button to appear. A series of Good, Great or Perfect attack can trigger this.
3. Prefer Manual Targets over Auto Targets:
Noticed a number above each enemy? Well, when it hits zero, the enemy will attack one of your squad members. Before start of battle, tap on an enemy who has number 1 or number 2 above it. They will be the first to attack when their number hits zero.
Don’t go for auto targets. Enemies with number 3 will take time to attack. It’s those number 1 enemies who will strike the first blow. You lose total HP when hit your characters, so better defeat low number enemies first before they eliminate your team mates.
4. Choose a Guest Captain with Better Stats:
One Piece Treasure Cruise lets players choose a guest captain to assist them in battle. There will be 3-4 guest helpers. Before finalizing selection, tap on a guest helper profile to view stats like HP, ATK and RCV. Choose a guest captain who has High HP and ATK rate.
If you don’t want to check each guest helper’s stats, just select the one with high character level and player level. Guest captains can be very helpful in boss battles. You will be able to earn friend points (FP) if you recruit guest helpers or if another player chooses you as their guest captain. You can also earn FP as log-in bonuses.
Make friends with a guest captain to take him along on your adventures. Making a guest captain your friend will give you access to his special captain abilities.
5. Attack Enemies with Stronger Character Types:
Each character has its own type. Types such as STR (Strength), DEX (Dexterity), QCK (Quickness), PSY and INT (Intelligence) are stronger or weaker than each other. The diagram below shows which character type is stronger than the other:
STR > DEX > QCK > STR
Int and Psy and weak against each other, so don’t expect a damage bonus with these two character types.
Select a character whose type is stronger than the enemy. You can easily recognize the enemy type by looking at the HP bar above him. If you cannot find a stronger character type, then choose the one whose type is the same as the enemy. Just make sure you don’t choose a lower type character for your first attack.
Also, note the glowing slot display. It changes in every turn and if you are lucky, the slot display will show the same type. Tapping on a character with matching type and slot displays increases attack damage.
6. Great Attacks Recover HP:
Yes that’s right. Tapping on a character with a meat slot display (RCV) when action words come too close can actually blow the meat away. What you need is a Good or a Great attack to collect meat.
When you see a meat slot icon on a character, wait for the action words to come a little closer and then tap on them. Meat will come out. You don’t need to tap on the meat – it will automatically refill your team’s total HP. Just make sure you don’t go for a perfect attack or miss one. The meat will disappear on both attempts.
7. Specials To The Rescue:
A “Specials” display slot gets triggered once the skill bar below the character profile fills up. With every new turn, your character gains one skill point. You may have to wait a few rounds to gain skill points and then use a special to deal massive damage to enemies.
When the skill meter hits max level, swipe upwards to launch the special attack. Several characters in your team will require more rounds in fill up the skill meter. There are different types of specials. Some deal massive damage to enemies, whereas others refill HP. There are even those that let you change the slot display of your characters.
8. Win Battles to Increase Stamina Level:
Your Pirate level increases when your EXP bar fills up. Higher Pirate levels give you more stamina and costs. In this game, Stamina is “Energy”. You can’t fight if your stamina is reduced to zero, though it does refill after some time. Player level-ups increase stamina level and max costs.
9. Use Common Pirates to Power Up Uncommon or Rare Characters:
You will get plenty of one-star pirates throughout missions. Tap on Crew > Power up and select a main character. Next, tap on the empty slot to add up to 4-5 common pirates and then tap on Power-Up.
You can also combine characters belonging to the same type with the main character to level him up faster. Power-ups level-up your main characters and boost HP, ATK and other attributes.
Don’t ignore the Treasure Turtles or Daimyo Turtles. Combine them with the main character to level him up.
10. Tips to Earn Rainbow Gems:
Rainbow gems can be quite useful if you want a rare, ultra rare or super rare character for your team. You will need 5 rainbow gems to recruit one. Head to the tavern to get a rare character if you have 5 of these precious gems. As far as I know, there are two ways to get Rainbow Gems in One Piece Treasure Cruise:
Play the tapping mini-game in the download screen to get 5 free gems. Remember you can earn only up to 5 gems so tapping after 500 won’t earn you an extra gem.
Some chapters grant an extra gem as first clear bonuses. Complete such chapters without losing to earn gems.
If you don’t have enough gems, then use the FP recruit option. You will need to spend Friend points to recruit a character. While using this option will let you recruit a common character, there are chances of earning 2-star rarity character and rare characters.