Cross Combo

For the DS version-exclusive mechanic that functions somewhat similarly, see Light Puck.

The Cross Combo (abbreviated as CC), is a combat mechanic appearing in The World Ends with You -Solo Remix- and The World Ends With You: Final Remix that boosts the power of Player pairs. After Neku or his partner hits an enemy, a follow-up attack by the other character will initiate a Cross Combo.

Cross Combo attacks deal bonus damage, increase sync rate, slow combat momentarily, and are not subject to reduction by Taboo Noise resistance or Noise polarities resistance.

Analysis

Damage

Attacks that are part of a CC are subject to a starting multiplier of x1.1. By alternating character attacks and landing consecutive CCs, this multiplier can steadily grow. By default, the multiplier grows by x0.05 per cross combo. As with the puck, longer gaps between hits can cause the multiplier to drop or reset altogether.

In Final Remix's co-op mode, the CC multiplier for the most recent CC (rounded down to the nearest tenth) is shown on screen, similar to how the puck multiplier was shown in the original DS version. This feature, combined with co-op granting partners three techniques each with separate use gauges, makes it possible to easily determine the maximum default multiplier, which is revealed to be x2.0. This would mean that the CC multiplier maxes out after 19 consecutive CCs (the starting value is x1.1, which is then boosted 18 times by x0.05), or 20 alternating attacks if one counts the first non-CC hit.

The CC Boost ability boosts the effective multiplier by 0.05 per level of the ability, but only for the equipped character. This is directly added to the current multiplier value and does not affect the multiplier growth rate. In other words, rather than boost the CC multiplier the way the Puck Power ability did for the Puck, it simply adds additional damage on top of the multiplier whenever a CC is performed by that character.

Sync Rate

Sync rate is increased by 2% for both Neku and his partner on normal CC hits. A blazing hit for Neku will increase the sync rate by 3%, while a blazing hit for Neku's partner will increase sync rate by 2.5%.

Pin Choices

The new system actually changes the best pin choices. While high efficiency, high damage pins were best in the DS version of the game due to the huge damage boost they get from the puck multiplier, faster, multi-hit pins have become more useful in the Remixes. These pins allow the user to easily pull off longer Cross Combos, which in turn results in higher multipliers. It is therefore also preferable to use pins whose actions can be easily executed with the actions of the partner pin, which expedites the performance of CCs.

The damage bonus of the Cross Combo system is also spread across many hits, unlike the bonus for only a single hit with the puck system. This allows pins that can use multiple attacks in succession to potentially deal multiplied damage on all their hits instead of just one, closing the gap between them and single hit, high efficiency psychs. The lower multipliers though mitigate this advantage, and high efficiency psychs will still get a larger relative damage boost per hit.

A good strategy to exploit this system is to use fast, low efficiency psychs with multiple uses to chain long CCs together, then use a high efficiency psych to best employ the boosted multiplier. In contrast, the puck system encouraged a strategy of primarily high efficiency psychs to both use the puck multiplier and to pass the puck while boosting its multiplier, leaving low efficiency psychs to fill in the gaps when the puck was unavailable.

Recover HP

In the DS version, the Puck could affect and multiply the amount of HP recovered by pins, so people only needed to choose pins with low HP recovery, and increase the puck to 5.0X. This would make a 20% HP recovery become a 100% recovery. This is not possible with the Cross Combo. CC rate does not affect pins that recover HP, so you need choose pins that recover more HP.

Holy Field Effect

When all Holy Field pins are equipped, all CC hits performed by Neku add an extra 4% sync, plus deal triple damage. This stacks with the standard CC multiplier, meaning an initial hit does x3.3 times the damage of a normal hit. Assuming the above x2.0 maximum multiplier applies, this means that Neku can deal up to six times the normal damage of a single attack if the multiplier is maxed out.

Additionally, as a side effect, each CC hit will generate a 4 second long invulnerability shield for Neku, which renews with each CC hit.

Abilities

With the addition of Cross Combos, abilities relating to the Light Puck have been replaced with Cross Combo variants, such as: CC Boost instead of Puck Power, Loose CCs instead of Hold That Puck, and CC Faster/Slower Sync instead of Faster/Slower Puck.