Chain

A player using Sabarta on to build a chain, then Gidiga on to break the chain for extra damage

Left: Damage with no chain, right: Damage with 7 chain

Chains are the main combat mechanic of Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, allowing players to do higher damage with their photon arts (excluding bullets) and charge shots by repeatedly hitting a creature with attacks first.

The chain system was introduced in Phantasy Star Portable 2 to incentivise the use of regular attacks alongside attacks, as the mechanics and gameplay of Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Portable, the game's predecessors, meant that combat was mostly just pressing the same button over and over again.

Proper use of the chain system is mandatory in later stages of the game, as creature health is balanced around the chain multipliers.

Overview

Chains are increased through the usage of repeated attacks on a creature, and then used (or broken, as it is more commonly known) by using any attack on the creature with the chain counter built. After a chain is broken, any attacks will receive a boost in damage for a limited time on the creature depending on how high the chain was built beforehand. attacks will not receive this damage bonus. This means that all skills, charge shots and Technics linked to can receive extra damage from a chain.

Chains are built on a per-creature basis, and any large creatures with multiple hitboxes will share the same chain counter across all of its hitboxes. Furthermore, chains are also shared between all party members, meaning that players can build chain counters together, and when one player breaks a chain, it will break for all players in the party. Therefore it is crucial to work with your party members to build chains quickly, and not break them too early, as all players will be affected by a break.

Chains can be built to a maximum of 100.

Chain duration

After a chain has begun on a creature, there is a set amount of time for players to continue to build the chain or break the chain before it disappears and must be built from zero again. The amount of time the chain counter will last for before disappearing can be calculated with the below formula in seconds, where ${\color {White}x}$ is the chain number:

${\color {White}\approx 3.{\dot {3}}-(x/30)}$

For example, a chain of 10 will disappear after 3 seconds, a chain of 30 will disappear after 2.3 seconds, and a chain of 80 will disappear after 0.63 seconds.

Once a chain has been broken, it will last for a certain amount of time, depending on the chain counter. The amount of time the chain will remain in its broken state before disappearing can be calculated with the below formula in seconds, where ${\color {White}x}$ is the chain number:

${\color {White}2+(x/10)}$

For example, a chain of 10 will last for 3 seconds, a chain of 30 will last for 5 seconds, and a chain of 80 will last for 10 seconds.

Chain damage

The amount of damage multiplier provided by a chain break depends on whether there is more than one party member (including NPCs, meaning that solo play with only NPCs follows the multiplayer formula) and the number of the chain counter at the time of break. Refer to the formulas below for the damage multiplier, where ${\color {White}x}$ is the chain number.

Player amount	Formula
1 player	${\color {White}Damage\times {\big [}2+(0.125\times x){\big ]}}$
2-4 players	${\color {White}Damage\times {\big [}2+(0.075\times x){\big ]}}$

Put simply, the existence of a chain by itself will double all damage, while every extra chain count will increase damage by a further 12.5% or 7.5%, depending on player count.