Final Fantasy XIII

ATB Refresh / Paradigm Shifting
Tips and Tricks (Advanced)

The Active Time Battle system, which uses the ATB Gauge, is the blue segmented bar that appears during a battle. Similar to the turn-based system of combat in other Final Fantasy games, the ATB Gauge is what dictates the timing of when characters can perform actions during the fight. Your characters will perform an action and then have to wait for the ATB Gauge to fill back up before performing more actions.

Or at least, this is the basic premise, but there are a few advanced tips and tricks that you can utilize related to the ATB Gauge that are referred to as the “ATB Refresh Trick”.

ATB Gauge

The rate at which each of your party member’s ATB Gauge fills is determined by a number of factors including the “Battle Speed” setting in the main menu, but also whether the character is inflicted with the Slow or Haste status effects. Paradigm shifting can also have an impact on character’s ATB Gauges, and therein lies the ATB Refresh Trick…

Paradigm Shifting Timing

There are some very important things to note about Paradigm Shifts as it relates to the ATB Gauge:

1. The first Paradigm Shift you make during a battle will play a brief cinematic where the camera will zoom in on each of the characters as they transition from one role to another. As a result, this first Paradigm Shift is very slow.
2. Every Paradigm Shift initiated after the first one is instantaneous.
3. After 12 seconds have elapsed, the next Paradigm Shift will automatically fully refill each character’s ATB Gauge.

Utilizing the Trick

So how do you go about using this trick during your playthrough of the game? It’s fairly simple to take advantage of this mechanic. The suggested approach is to initiate a paradigm shift early on in the fight (to get rid of the lengthy transition early) and then complete a paradigm shift every 12 seconds.

To be more precise and make it easier though, rather than trying to time the effect and count to 12 seconds, you should try to complete a paradigm shift after your party leader’s ATB gauge has filled two times.

Advanced Tactics

The easiest method of employing this tactic is to focus on your party leader and make sure they are getting full advantage out of the ATB gauge, but it’s important to factor in your other party members as well in two ways:

• Don’t time a paradigm shift during a sequence that will interrupt important actions that they may be performing (i.e. if your AI controlled Ravager has just started casting spells consider letting them finish).
• Consider completing an ATB Refresh (i.e. paradigm shift) regardless of your party leader’s current ATB Gauge status if your two AI controlled party members have completed their actions and are ready for an ATB Refresh on their own.

If you notice that your party leader’s ATB Gauge is not full following the paradigm shift, you are going too fast!

The last important element to note is that the cinematic for the first paradigm shift won’t occur if your party leader is in the air. They have to be on the ground in order for the cinematic to occur, and the cinematic will wait until the first paradigm shift where they are on the ground before it kicks off.

This trick will not only greatly increase the amount of damage that your party members are able to deal to enemies, but it can also help your Medics pump out more heals, your Synergists get their buffs out faster, and your Saboteurs get more attempts at casting debuffs. This trick also makes it somewhat useful to have two of the same paradigms in your ‘paradigm deck’ so that you can ATB Refresh from one to the other without placing your party member’s into the wrong role.

Check out some of the videos on the jegged.com Youtube page to see the ATB Refresh tactic in action.