Penetrate

Penetrate is a status effect in ACS. It is usually a side effect of certain Artes, casting time of Spells, or of going into Overlimit, depending on the character.

Forms of Penetrate

There are 3 forms of the Penetrate status.

Hidden Penetrate

Marked Penetrate

Unmarked Penetrate

1. Hidden Penetrate: This form of Penetrate is simply one of the other two forms, but not publicly displayed. It usually accompanies the casting of spells or other Artes and is used a lot in Story Mode.
2. Marked Penetrate: This form of Penetrate has a publicly displayed counter in the corner of the screen displaying how many more times the player with this status must be hit in order to remove the status.
3. Unmarked Penetrate: This form of Penetrate is publicly displayed, however is not based on hits, but upon something else; usually either a built-in timer or the character's remaining time in Overlimit.

Effects of Penetrate

During any of the forms of Penetrate, the possessing character takes Guarding damage (50% less damage) from all attacks. They are also treated as if Guarding, and as such cannot be combo attacked or staggered.

Countering Penetrate

If your enemy is in Penetrate status, there are many ways to fight against it such as;

• Wait for it to expire. This is only for Unmarked Penetrate.
• Use multi-hitting artes to deplete their penetrate counters. This is only for Marked and Hidden Penetrate.
• Use certain artes that are unblockable or have special anti-penetrate effects to make the enemy stagger.
• Use mystic artes. After a mystic arte, the Penetrate status is usually removed. This is also true if the enemy will use a mystic arte while in Penetrate status.