X E N O S T A R - The Hope of a Star [v 5.0: Project Revert]

Double Attacks and Double Ethers

Although people often forget the latter, there are two different types of tag-team abilities in Episode II: Double Attacks and Double Ethers. It's a shame too because Double Ethers are much more useful than Double Attacks. On this page, we'll be explaining the mechanics of both!

Double Attacks

Initiating a Double Attack

With the conditions met, you can select a Double Attack via the Command Menu.	You must then select/confirm your target.	All Double Attacks have fancy animation.	And end with damage or some sort of effect.

Excuse the Japanese screenshots. I had to make do with what I had. Double attacks are exactly what they sound like: tag-team attacks that have special effects. Before you go into battle, it's a good idea to go to Techs in the Main Menu and check which characters can initiate a Double before a battle. You start out with only chaos and Jin's Ice Brand, but more can be gained through Global Samaritan (GS) Campaigns and stealing Awakenings from certain bosses. IMPORTANT! If you want to get all Double Attacks, make sure you complete GS Campaign #1 BEFORE diving into MOMO's Subconscious Domain.

In order to execute a Double Attack, both characters need to have a certain amount of stock saved up and at least one boost. Once those conditions are met, wait until one of the characters' turns and boost the other character. "Double" will then become selectable in the Command Menu, allowing you to utilize a Double Attack like seen in the example above. Note that both characters lose the required stock after performing a Double Attack.

In case you're wondering, here's a list of all the Double Attacks and their attributes!

Double	Characters	Target	Type	Attribute	Condition	Effect
Burst Veil	Shion and MOMO	All Allies	Support	-	Stock x1	Burst Veil
Archangel's Requiem	Shion and Jr.	All Enemies	Physical	Pierce	Stock x2	-
Dual Spell Ray	Shion and chaos	1 Enemy	Ether	Beam	Stock x2	-
Lion Heart	Shion and Jin	One Enemy	Physical	Slash	Stock x2	-
Crossfist	KOS-MOS and Ziggy	One Enemy	Physical	Strike	Stock x2	-
Cross Hilbert	KOS-MOS and MOMO	All Enemies	S. Attack	-	Stock x2	H Lost
Grand Ronde	KOS-MOS and chaos	One Enemy	Physical	Strike	Stock x3	-
Blessed Miracle	chaos and MOMO	All Allies	Support	-	Stock x3	Best Ally
Fiery Ritornelle	Jr. and Ziggy	All Enemies	Physical	Pierce/Fire	Stock x2	-
Silver Duet	Jr. and MOMO	One Enemy	Ether	None	Stock x2	-
Ice Brand	chaos and Jin	All Allies	Physical	Slash/Ice	Stock x2	-
Elemental Nocturne	Jr. and chaos	All Enemies	Ether	Aura	Stock x2	-
Gravity Bomb	KOS-MOS and Shion	One Enemy	Physical	Strike	Stock x2	L Slow
Phoenix Blade	Jin and Shion	One Enemy	Ether	Aura	Stock x3	-
Power Strike	MOMO and Ziggy	One Enemy	Physical	Strike/Fire	Stock x3	-
Twin Buster	Shion and KOS-MOS	One Enemy	Ether	Beam	Stock x3	-

Although Double Attacks are considered the "replacement" for Episode I's tech attacks, they actually do less damage then unleashing your stocks, especially if you follow the elemental chaining strategy. It's also important to note that double attacks can only be used once per battle. Make sure to time when you use them well.

Double Ethers
Double Ethers are enhanced Ethers caused by two simultaneous castings. To initiate a Double Ether, first make sure that the two people you're using have the necessary Ethers in order for it to work. It's a good idea to initiate a battle in the EVS Simulator to check which Double Ethers you are able to initiate with your usual party after learning several new spells. After you've confirmed that both casters have the necessary Ether, boost the second caster on the first caster's turn like with a Double Attack. Then go to through the Command Menu to the Ether list and place the cursor over one of the Ethers required and hit

. A new window will pop up with the Double Ether, allowing you to cast it!

Example
chaos and Jin want to cast Double Medica.

->chaos's turn arrives.
->Jin is boosted.
->Ethers list is accessed via the Command Menu
->Cursor is placed onto "Medica"
->Press

->Double Menu appears. Select "Double Medica."
->Confirm your targets (the ENTIRE party!) and the powered up spell is cast!

Note: Not all Ethers can be used for Double Ethers and some Double Ethers require two different spells (Pocket Rare = Analyze + Psycho Pocket).

And for the sake of completeness, here's a list of some of the Double Ether's you can cast! It doesn't matter which character initiates which spell.

Double Ether	Ether 1	Ether 2	Target	Effect
Double Medica	Medica	Medica	All Allies	Low HP Recovery
Double Medica 2	Medica 2	Medica 2	All Allies	Mid HP Recovery
Double Refresh L	Refresh L	Refresh L	All Allies	Remove L Status Effect
Double Refresh H	Refresh H	Refresh H	All Allies	Remove H Status Effect
XSB Dex	Down Dex	Down Dex	All Enemies	Lower Dexterity & Evasion of Bio and Gnosis Enemies
XSB Force	Down Force	Down Force	All Enemies	Lower Phys. Attack of Bio and Gnosis Enemies
XSB P Def	Down P Def	Down P Def	All Enemies	Lower Phys. Defense of Bio and Gnosis Enemies
XSB Ether	Down Ether	Down Ether	All Enemies	Lower Ether Attack of Bio and Gnosis Enemies
XSB E Def	Down E Def	Down E Def	All Enemies	Lower Ether Defense of Bio and Gnosis Enemies
XBK Sensor	Break Sensor	Break Sensor	All Enemies	Lower Dexterity & Evasion of Machine Enemies
XBK Arms	Break Arms	Break Arms	All Enemies	Lower Phys. Attack of Machine Enemies
XBK Armor	Break Armor	Break Armor	All Enemies	Lower Phys. Defense of Machine Enemies
XBK Beam	Break Beam	Break Beam	All Enemies	Lower Ether Attack of Machine Enemies
XBK Shield	Break Shield	Break Shield	All Enemies	Lower Ether Defense of Machine Enemies
Flame Storm	Flame Blast	Flame Blast	All Enemies	Flame Ether Attack
Flame Burst	Flame Blast	Aura Blast	One Enemy	Concentrated Fire Ether Attack
Thunder Storm	Thunder Blast	Thunder Blast	All Enemies	Thunder Ether Attack
Thunder Burst	Thunder Blast	Aura Blast	One Enemy	Concentrated Thunder Ether Attack
Ice Storm	Ice Blast	Ice Blast	All Enemies	Ice Ether Attack
Ice Burst	Ice Blast	Aura Blast	One Enemy	Concentrated Ice Ether Attack
Aura Storm	Aura Blast	Aura Blast	All Enemies	Aura Ether Attack
Flame Wall	Flame Veil	Flame Veil	All Allies	Reduce Fire Damage by 25%
Thunder Wall	Thunder Veil	Thunder Veil	All Allies	Reduce Thunder Damage by 25%
Ice Wall	Ice Veil	Ice Veil	All Allies	Reduce Ice Damage by 25%
Aura Wall	Aura Veil	Aura Veil	All Allies	Reduce Aura Damage by 25%
Junk Blast	Junk Beam	Junk Beam	All Enemies	20% chance to cancel machine enemies' actions.
Pocket Rare	Analyze	Psycho Pocket	One Enemy	Analyze enemy and steal rare item.
Miracle Stars	Miracle Star	Miracle Star	All Enemies	Non-elemental Ether Attack
Lost Mist	Misty	Misty	All Enemies	Block B or G Enemies' Ether Skills.

I'm not sure why, but everyone always forgets about Double Ethers! They're really helpful, as the only "heal all" spell you get is the weaker Medica All, which Double Medica 2 easily mitigates. Also, once MOMO is able to boost herself, E.S. Zebulun will also be able to cast Double Ethers! Thus Double Medica 2 and several of the above spells are also possible in E.S. battles! This makes harder E.S. battles much easier in my opinion so be sure to keep that tip in mind!