Ryza has discovered the ability to create keys out of thin air. Strange, isn't it? But we're not here to talk about story implications, it's all about gameplay here. The keys add quite a lot of depth to both combat and synthesis, so it's worth investing some time into learning how they work.


Just to get the formalities out of the way, we'll quickly be going over what the keys are and what they can do.


The secret keys are items that can be used to do a lot of things. You can get stat buffs in battle, use them in synthesis, and much more. By gathering power at a landmark or absorbing it from enemies, Ryza is able to create new keys which are then equipped to her key ring. They have limited use and will disappear when used enough times, so always aim to make more when you need them. You can also create special "Pristine Keys" via synthesis, but we'll go over that later.


Here's what the keys can do:

- Buff your stats in battle in many ways
- Give special perks during synthesis
- Open supply points and destroy barriers in the field
- Equip on characters to increase their base stats or give special passives.

As mentioned before, Ryza's keys get equipped on her key ring, but she actually has 3 different key rings for the 3 different types of keys. They are:



Hollow keys are what you consume to create new keys. They only exist for that purpose, and can't be modified whatsoever. You are limited to 5 hollow keys whenever you go out, but they're automatically recharged when you return to the atelier. You don't need to create new ones, nor are you able to make new hollow keys in the first place.

These often give middling results, so if you want something better, you need...




Pristine keys can be consumed to create new keys much like the hollow key, but they can only be obtained by creating them via synthesis. You cannot create pristine keys until you get to a certain point in the main story, but it's fairly early on, don't worry. You can ONLY obtain these by making them, and cannot be duplicated in any way or bought from shops. By filling out the material loops as best you can, you can have pristine keys be extremely effective in making high quality secret keys with many more uses until they disappear. You should always have some of these on hand whenever you go out, because they will always be a better option than using a hollow key. We'll go over the pristine keys in depth in their own section.




The main star of the show. The Secret Keys are what you get when you consume a hollow or pristine key. They can have many, many different uses. As far as I can tell, the traits you get from these keys are entirely random with few exceptions. For the sake of keeping things tidy, We'll go over the four pillars of the secret keys in their own section.





Like I said before, Ryza has 3 different key rings for each of these types, and therefore they won't overlap with one another.

- Hollow keys are limited to 5 at once when going out, and recharge at the atelier as previously stated.

- Pristine Keys and Secret Keys have a limit of 10 you can carry at once, each with their own key ring. You are required to have them on your key ring in order to use them in the field and in battle.

- If you remove a key from your key ring out in the field, it'll be stored in your basket, then put in the container at the Atelier. Secret keys in the container will still show up during Synthesis if they have a Synthesis trait on them, along with the ones currently on your key ring. When equipping Secret Keys to characters, you will see all existing Secret keys on your key ring and in the container; however, the ones that don't have a Symbol Effect trait on them can't be equipped and are a black square instead of the usual gray.


Note: If you create more Pristine Keys than the number of empty slots on your key ring, then the game will fill all the available slots, and the excess amount will be stored in the container. Similarly, if you create a Secret Key out in the field and don't have space on your key ring, it'll simply be stored in your basket.

Now, how do you get those sweet Secret keys? Two ways:

Visiting a landmark, and during battle. As a reminder, you must consume your Hollow/Pristine keys to make one, so no matter the outcome, your pristine key will be gone forever once you use it.



- When you're at a landmark, you'll see a glowing spot nearby. If the gauge is at 100%, you can make a new Secret Key. This will always succeed no matter what. Once you make a key, that specific landmark cannot make any new keys for a set period of time; you'll see the gauge drop to 0%. Once it gets back to 100%, you can make another one.






- A riskier but more rewarding method is attempting to create a new Secret Key during battle. When an enemy drops below 80% HP, you'll have a chance of creating a new key from it. The lower the enemy's HP is, the higher the success rate at getting a new Secret Key. It should be noted: ANYONE can both create and use the keys, not just Ryza.

Be aware, attempting to create or use a key during battle will reduce the Tactics Level by 1. This also means your Tactics Level needs to be a bare minimum of 2 in order to use them at all. Be sure to use them at the right time to get the most use out of them.

When you select "Key Creation" from the item menu, you'll see your list of Pristine/Hollow keys along with the percentage chance of success and the percentage chance of what traits will show up on the key.


Attempting to make a key during battle has the possibility of failing if the percentage isn't 100%, giving you absolutely nothing if it fails. If this happens, the Pristine/Hollow key you used will still be lost and cannot be recovered. The Tactics Level will also still be reduced by 1 even if it ends in failure.


You'll also see the percentage chance of what type of trait will be assigned to your key if successful. Secret Keys can have up to 4 traits with varying degrees of effectiveness. Every enemy has a different percentage of traits, so try to find the right enemy for the right trait you want.

You can also potentially get pretty rare Secret Keys if you try making one from a boss... Perhaps it would be in your best interest to remember to try it before you defeat them.

When you reach a certain point in the main story, you'll get the recipe for Pristine Keys. As previously stated, they are better than Hollow Keys in practically every way. The only limitation is how much you can fill out the material loop.


Here's all the potential bonuses you can get using Pristine Keys instead of Hollow Keys:

- Secret Keys get more uses before they disappear
- Higher success rate for key creation during battles
- Secret Key traits can be more powerful than usual
- Higher rarity for Secret Keys which can give special bonuses and better traits



Let's take a look at the material loop.





Make sure you remember the necessary materials for making these things, cause you're gonna be making them often. Also, yes, you can use Secret Keys with Synthesis effects on this recipe.

Here's all the unique material loops:

- Quantity: Create more Pristine Keys in this batch, up to 2 extra.

- Number of Uses: Increases the number of uses for the Secret Keys created from this Pristine Key batch, up to 6 extra.

- Key Creation Success Rate Up: Adds a fixed percentage amount to the base success rate of creating keys from enemies, up to 50%. If this loop is not filled out, there will simply be no additional percentage.

- Effect Random Enhancement: Increases the chance of a more powerful trait on the Secret Keys created from this Pristine Key batch. Most traits have XS, S, M, L, XL, and XXL variants.

- Rarity Up: Increases the rarity of the Secret Keys created from this Pristine Key batch.

Before we get into the effects themselves, an important distinction to note on the Secret Keys is what they look like.




There's 4 rarities for Secret Keys: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Super Rare. These are pretty self-explanatory, you're much more likely to get more powerful traits on higher rarity Secret Keys. Higher rarities can also contribute much more when using them during synthesis.

Now, this is an important distinction: Some traits for Secret Keys CANNOT be obtained if the rarity of the Secret Key is too high. Particularly, certain Synthesis traits such as "Element Value Up" can't be obtained, so it would be in your best interest to intentionally create a lower rarity key if you're looking for those specific traits. I've done a lot of my own research and experimentation, but I can't say with 100% certainty what rarities will apply for what traits. In the upcoming sections of this guide showing all the individual traits, I will specify which traits need specific rarities to the best of my knowledge.

Hollow Keys almost always create common rarity Secret Keys and nothing else, while Pristine Keys will create uncommon rarity ones at the very least. In order to always create Rare/SR keys, you need to fill out the "Rarity Up" material loop in the Pristine Key synthesis recipe. Unfortunately, these require materials that are harder to find and require rank 3 gathering tools. If you manage to create a Secret Key during a boss battle, the rarity of the created key will be higher than usual. You can get Rare/SR keys earlier this way, but the amount of opportunities you have to do this is limited, obviously.





The element is also similarly self-explanatory. The color of the key tells you what element it is, same as the elements of materials during synthesis. This particular distinction only matters in two instances: Synthesis and Barriers. We'll go over that when we get to those.






Now let's go over the motifs. These only really apply to battle and synthesis. Each Secret Key will have a flashy little design on them, and that signifies what it's "motif" is. They will look a little different depending on Rarity and Element, but they have the same general aesthetic across the board. These are:


Feather




















Ore






















Gear



















Star




















During battle, a particular motif can give you an advantage in battle. How does it work? Well, certain enemy types are actually weak to certain motifs. Using the correct one during battle will boost your character's damage dealt, and also reduce their damage taken, as you can see here on the lower left.




I'm still working out the specifics, but I'll list what enemies are weak to what types to the best of my knowledge. As a disclaimer, this is a work in progress.

Weak to Gear:

- Weasels
- Raptors
- Chameleons (Philuscia)
- Spirits (Fairies/Pixies)


Weak to Feather:

- Small Devils
- Elementals
- Sloths (Philuscia)
- Scorpions (Philuscia)
- Fenrirs (Wolves)


Weak to Ore:

- Punis
- Sheep
- Wyrms (Wyverns/Minidragons)
- Roadrunners (Birds)
- Beetles (Philuscia)


Weak to Star:

- Mini Golems (Rock Monsters)
- Dryades (Plant Monsters)
- Knights (Suits of Armor)
- Hedgehogs/Rats (Philuscia)
- Sharks




For Synthesis, most recipes have special bonuses that will be applied if you use a Secret Key that fits the requirements, as well as the effects from the key itself. We'll go over that in the Synthesis section.





You might be wondering if there's any particular advantage in getting a key from a landmark versus in battle. And in the answer is... mostly no. Landmarks and enemy types alike always create a particular motif and have specific trait types for a Secret Key, and that will always be the same. The rarity and power of traits will not matter, as that's determined by the Hollow/Pristine Key you use.

However, the one leg up that using battles to create keys have compared to landmarks: Having information on hand. I did say that landmarks always give the same motif and trait type, but unless you memorize everything, information on what motif/traits landmarks will have are not recorded whatsoever. They ARE recorded on enemies, though. If you go to the monster guide, any enemy you've encountered and fought will have information on exactly what kind of key it will create. The chance of the Motif, Element, and Trait type.

Secret Keys can have 4 potential trait types, vastly changing how they can be used; and unlike the Hollow and Pristine keys, you can use a single Secret Key multiple times, and for multiple purposes. While you can use it multiple times, it will still disappear once it's used up, so use the really good ones only when you'll be getting a lot out of it. You will always be able to see the remaining number of uses on a Secret Key if you're about to use it.


Let's quickly go over the buff effects, and then I'll explain them more in depth.





Buff Effects are used during battle, and give a multitude of stat buffs or special passives to the character who used it. This effect only lasts for a certain amount of time which can be seen next to your AP gauge.




Synthesis Effects give Secret Keys the ability to be used while you're synthesizing an item, granting various bonuses depending on the key's element, rarity, type, and so on. If you make proper use of this, you can make up for the lack of quality materials and create an item much better than you could've normally. Don't underestimate the potenial power these effects have.



Symbol Effects grant various stat increases when you equip it on a character. In other words, it's basically like another piece of gear you can equip, much like your armor and accessories. There may also be special effects like increasing evasion or crit rate.



Adventure Effects are activated when you use a Secret Key with this effect out in the field, and temporarily give you whatever bonuses to whatever trait is listed. These are often things like getting higher quality materials from a specific gathering tool (Axe, Hammer, Sickle etc), but you can get other useful traits as well. You can also use any Secret key with at least 1 adventure effect to open supply points and destroy barriers.

Using a Secret Key during battle is known as "Key Modification". When used, there will be a timer next to your AP gauge showing how much longer the effect will last. On top of the effects of the key itself, the character's WT time from skills and item usage is immensely reduced, making it easy to perform a lot of followup attacks in quick succession.

The effects of the key will ONLY apply to the character that used it; you will notice their weapon will have some sort of special glow or design signifying this.


On top of that, only one key's effects can be active at a time. If you use another key while the previous key modification is still active, it'll simply replace the older one, regardless of who uses it.

(Pro tip: Using Secret Keys while fighting the Weasel/Lamb/Devil Roasts won't consume their use count at all after the fight is over, so feel free to go ham on them to get high scores or clear challenges.)



Here's the effects:


All Stats Up (XS - XXL): Increase ATK, DEF, and SPD

Skill Charge (XS - XXL): Increase attack power of skills and Fatal Drives.

Item Enhancement (XS - XXL): Increase attack power of items used.

AP Boost (XS - XXL): Increase the amount of AP gained from normal attacks; AP can go up to 99.

CC Boost (XS - XXL): Increase the amount of CC gained from performing skills and skill chains.

Action Speed Increase (XS - XXL): Increase the attack speed of normal attacks and skills.

Auto Heal (XS - XXL): Grants HP Regen.

Fire/Ice/Air/Bolt Conversion (XS - XXL): 4 different effects with the same purpose. Changes all of the character's normal attacks and skills to the appropriate element, and damage of said element increases. This does not change whether the damage is physical or magic.

All Critical: Attacks will always be a critical hit.

Invincible: Character is completely immune to damage.

If a Secret Key has a Symbol Effect on it, then it can be equipped by anyone to make it a piece of gear. If a key is equipped by someone and there's non-symbol effects on it, then the other non-symbol effects can't be used anywhere else like during battle or synthesis. These are mostly stat buffs or other little things that can help out like increasing evasion or crit rate. There's not really much to say about these, but it is worth noting higher rarity Secret Keys will grant special effects that you can't find anywhere else. Let's go over all the potential effects:





Symbol of Omnipotence (XS - XXL): Increases all base stats

Symbol of Onslaught (XS - XXL): Increases ATK

Symbol of Firmness (XS - XXL): Increases DEF

Symbol of Agility (XS - XXL): Increases SPD

Symbol of Vitality (XS - XXL): Increases max HP

Symbol of Concentration (XS - XXL): Increases Crit DMG

Symbol of Sniping (XS - XXL): Increases Crit rate

Symbol of Robustness (XS - XXL): Increases damage to enemy's stun gauge

Symbol of the Forsaken (XS - XXL): Increases evasion rate

Symbol of Absorption (XS - XXL): HP is recovered when taking damage





These effects change the role of the character and add special properties. These can only be obtained from Rare or Super Rare Secret Keys.



Mark of Alchemist: Changes role to Alchemist.


Purpose: Maximize the usefulness of items by increasing their power, using them more often, and have obtaining CC be much easier.


- Attack and heal power of items is increased according to character's role level.

- Increases CC recovery when character is in the back row

- AP Cost for using "Quick Item" is reduced from 10 to 5.

- CC Cost for using items reduced by 1





Mark of Brave: Changes role to Brave.


Purpose: To put your all into executing an extremely powerful Fatal Drive


- All stats are increased according to character's role level.

- Increases chance of being targeted

- Fatal Drive power increases according to the number of active party members with the Brave role (including back row)




Mark of Play Maker: Changes role to Play Maker.


Purpose: Maximize effectiveness of Secret Keys during battle and increasing AP gain to make setting up long skill chains easier and more effective.


- All stats of all party members increase according to the role level of the character who has the Play Maker role.

- Key Modification time extended when using a key during battle

- Any AP gained is doubled




Mark of Mighty Master: Changes role to Mighty Master


Purpose: Become the ultimate tank and take hits for the rest of your party


- ATK and DEF increases according to character's role level.

- Further reduces damage when blocking

- Increases chance of being targeted

This one's a real doozy. If you have just the right key, you can make some insanely good items even if you might be lacking certain materials or qualities. So let's go over it step by step.


You will always have the option of using a Secret Key with a Synthesis Effect in any recipe. However, you MUST fill out all the core material loop ingredients first before you're able to use a key. Once that's done, you pick your key and use it. If you change your mind and decide you don't wanna use the key after it's been set, just press the back button until the background changes back to normal; the key's use won't be consumed until you actually synthesize the item.


Remember when I mentioned that recipes will have special bonuses for certain keys? If you have a key that fits the requirements, you'll get up to 3 more effects from fulfilling those in addition to the effects on the key itself. Always try to fulfill these if you're able, as it can give you a huge advantage with the right combination. To explain it more in depth, let's look at an example:


Also, just so you know, the keys will always be arranged in order of how many requirements will be fulfilled for the recipe.








This Anemo Bomb recipe, like any other, has 3 requirements, each with their own effect. The first one is using a key that's at least Uncommon rarity or higher, and that will lower the item level. The second is the key has an Ore Motif and will fill up Fire material loops. The last one requires the key to be "Rare" or higher and lowers the CC cost. This particular Rainbow Key fits the bill for all 3 of those, and therefore all 3 of these effects will be applied when I use it, in addition to the Air Increase trait that the key itself has.



The only catch to this is, you need to fulfill all these requirements IN ORDER to be able to have all 3 effects apply.




For this Ice Bomb recipe, Level 1 says the key needs to be common, Level 2 is a star motif, and Level 3 is having the key be rare. As you can see, this key is "Rare" rarity, but is not a Star motif. This means the level 3 affect won't apply despite meeting the requirements for that one.





Here's all the Synthesis effects (Note - Most of these are also the effects for recipe quotas):


Quality Increase (XS - XXL): Increases the quality number of the item by a certain percentage.

Quantity Increase (S - M) [Uncommon/Rare Keys Only]: Increases the amount of materials you can add to the current recipe by 1 or 2.

Production Quantity Increase (S - M) [Uncommon/Rare Keys Only]: Produce more units of the final item by a fixed amount (Such as going from 1 piece of armor to 2 or 3 depending on effect strength).

Fire/Ice/Bolt/Wind Increase (S - L): These are 4 separate effects, but serve the same purpose. These fill out unlocked material loops of the appropriate element by a fixed amount, even if you haven't placed anything there yet. If the amount is enough to unlock the adjacent locked material loop, it'll unlock.

ATK/DEF/SPD/HP Increase (XS - XXL): Again, 4 different effects with the same purpose. Adds a fixed amount of the appropriate stat to the final item. This effect only works on Weapons, Armor, and Accessories.

Element Value Up (M) [Uncommon/Rare Keys Only]: Increases the elemental value of the final item by 2.

Add Fire/Ice/Bolt/Air Element: 4 different effects. Adds the appropriate element to the final item. If the item already has the element by default, then nothing will change.

Item Level Down: The item level of the final item decreases by 10.

You can use a Secret Key out in the field if it has an Adventure Effect on it. In addition to supply points and barriers, you can use them at any time by going to the main menu, selecting "secret key" and then select the key you wanna use. This'll grant you whatever the effect is for a short period of time. The effect can also be other various things like sending all your basket items to the container in the Atelier without having to go there yourself.


You'll find these glowing diamond-shaped things everywhere called supply points; the blue ones are more common while the orange ones are rarer. These can only be opened by a Secret Key with any Adventure Effect. The materials you get from them seem to be completely random, but it can be enhanced if you use a Secret Key that has an effect relating to supply points, such as getting higher quality materials from them.

As it turns out, it appears that a decent chunk of Synthesis recipes can only be found in Supply Points. It seems like there is an actual solid reason to go for these pretty often, since I have found almost 10 recipes I've never come across so far.





You'll also come across these colored barriers while exploring as well. You need to use a Secret Key to bypass it, but the caveat is the key needs to have at least 1 adventure effect AND be the same color/element as the barrier (like a fire key for a red barrier, bolt for yellow, etc).

And as you might expect, if a key has more than one element attached to it, that one will also work as long as it has the color of the barrier.




Here's all the effects you can get:


Gathering Quality Up (Barehanded/Staff/Sickle/Hammer/Axe/Bug Net/Fishing Rod) (XS - XXL): 7 different effects. Temporarily increases the quality of materials gathered using the appropriate item.

Enhanced Traits Gain (XS - XXL): Increases the tier of traits on items obtained from supply points (such as Destructive+ to Destructive++)

Trait Level Up (XS - XXL): Increases the trait level of items obtained from supply points (in other words, increase the number level of traits like Attack Charge).

Supply Quality Increase (XS - XXL): Increases the quality of materials you get from supply points by a fixed percentage.

HP Regen: Grants HP regen out in the field.

Atelier Portal: When you use the key hosting this effect, you'll teleport back to the Atelier and your position where you used the key will be saved. When you exit the Atelier, you will be able to return to the spot where you used the key, but only once.

Enhanced Slide: Allows you to take advantage of the effects of the Wind Shoes without actually equipping them. You also don't need to go downhill to actually slide.

Landmark Power Recovery: Immediately restore a landmark's percentage to 100% so you can create another Secret Key without waiting.

Item Transfer: Instantly send all the items currently in your basket to the container at the Atelier without having to go back yourself.

Restoration of Gathering Points: Restores any gathering points in a small AoE around Ryza.

Stealth: Enemies won't notice and run towards you. Effect is cancelled when you fast travel or get into a battle.

Treasure Search: A handful of supply points will spawn in an AoE around Ryza. You can see the effective range of this by opening the world map and seeing the big blue circle. Supply points spawned from this effect will also be marked on the map.

Animal Calling: Spawns various friendly animals near you. Pet them to get materials.

Appearance of Strong Enemies: A regular strong enemy will be spawned near you (The ones with the devil horn icon on the mini-map). A waypoint will guide you to where it is once summoned. The enemy that is summoned depends on the area you're in, as each area will have a specific strong enemy. You can't use this effect in the same area again until you defeat the monster you summoned.

Appearance of Rare Monsters: Pretty much exactly the same as "Appearance of Strong Enemies", but spawns harder to find monsters. These spawn exclusive monsters that you can't find anywhere else (Such as a Gold Puni), or boss-tier enemies depending on the area you're in.

Various little tips that I think is worth mentioning, and couldn't find room to fit it in the other sections.


- One of the effects of Federica's Order Drive is completely resetting the timer for the current Key Modification during battle. If you wanna get even more use out of the current effect, you can essentially double the amount of time it's active without needing to use it again if you time it just right. Just be aware the Order Drive won't be executed until your character is at a standstill, and Federica will only buff the character you're currently controlling.


- Don't underestimate the potential power of the Elemental Conversion Buff Effects. If you can coordinate the right element with the character's core crystal element, it can add to even more power than usual. An example of this is Patty having her core crystal be Fire, using a Secret Key that has "Fire Conversion", and now all her attacks will be buffed from both the key AND her core crystal element; this also makes all her skills equally as effective compared to Patty's single skill that is Fire by default. Of course, you should be aware if the enemy just so happens to be resistant or immune to a certain element.


- During synthesis, deciding WHEN to use a Secret Key is important, particularly for the Elemental Increase effects. If you recall, those effects will fill out unlocked material loops of the element it says. You can potentially fill out many more loops if you use the key when it's able to fill all possible material loop avenues, such as filling out all the unlocked Fire material loops with Fire Increase. Also, consider your timing when using the Quality Increase trait as well. Some items will have a quality limit on material loops that can't be filled until you meet the quota (especially prevalent on the Pristine Key recipe). If you find yourself adding materials solely to increase the quality, then try using a key with Quality Increase; you might be able to meet the quota without having to waste precious material slots.


- Speaking of synthesis, "Element Value Up" is absolutely invaluable. I'd argue it's the most valuable Secret Key effect in the entire game. Like I said before, this increases the elemental value of the final item by 2. For recipes that are synthesis material, such as neutralizers? That's gonna make filling out material loops WAY easier when using it on the right item. If you make a particularly great item with the effect, always make sure you have at least one copy of it on hand and duplicate it. Don't waste that precious resource by any means.


- Certain materials can only be found (or at least are more easily found) by certain strong/rare enemies. If you don't want to waste time finding random quests or walking around, then using "Appearance of Strong Enemies" and "Appearance of Rare Monsters" will save you a lot of time. Some recipes will require these materials, so this is good to know. If you encountered an enemy at least once, it'll show where they spawn, the materials they drop, along with if they only spawn under certain conditions. Make good use of that info.