Battle Arena

The Battle Arena is Phantasy Star Online 2's Player versus Player (PvP) area. It is hosted on a Universal Ship, where players from all Ships can enter with certain temporary restrictions applied to their character. To access the Battle Arena, a player must enter a Block Transporter, and select the Universal Ship Battle Lobby.

Emblem Scramble

Emblem Scramble is the main game mode in the Battle Arena. Two teams of six form Red Union and Blue Union, with each team seeking to collect more points than other by collecting coloured emblems on the field and stealing points by eliminating enemy players. Players can mine weapons from Weapon Points (visually like Gathering Points), granting them a Battle Weapon. At two differing intervals, the weapons in the Weapon Points will be updated to have better stats. After five minutes have passed, the team with the most points wins.

Players

All players use the same class, the Battle Warrior. During Emblem Scramble, Battle Warriors are set to level 30 with 300 HP and 100 PP, regardless of chosen race. Most weapons have an affix that grants an HP boost based on the weapon.

Players are not able to double-jump (unless they use the Jet Boots).

When a Battle Warrior is defeated, they quickly respawn and do not need to be revived by a Moon Atomizer.

Weapons

By mining from a Weapon Point, the player will obtain a random weapon, with the power varying based on the current weapon update level. Should more than one player attempt to mine the same Weapon Point, the game will grant the weapon to the one who completes the mining animation first and will cancel the attempt for the other players. Weapon Points automatically update to give Level 2 weapons at 3:20 remaining and do another update to Level 3 weapons at 1:20 remaining. If the player mines while the weapon updates mid-animation, the player will be granted the newly updated weapons. Held weapons do not upgrade during a Weapon Update.

Obtaining a weapon automatically adjusts your Weapon Palette to match the current weapon and it's chosen Photon Art/Technique. Weapon Actions are also added to the palette when applicable. These Photon Arts/Techniques have been adjusted for use in the Battle Arena, with some actions having unique functionality not seen outside of the Battle Arena.

Like Challenge Quests, weapons obtained during a match are not conserved between matches and cannot be brought back to the player's inventory.

Name	Power	Affixes	Photon Arts / Techniques
Battle Sword	Level 1: ??? Level 2: 120 Level 3: 150	Level 1: ??? Level 2: Battle Sword II Level 3: Battle Sword III	Rising Edge (Battle Arena) Nova Strike (Battle Arena) Ride Slash (Battle Arena)
Battle Partisan	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Assault Buster (Battle Arena)
Battle Twin Daggers	Level 1: 100 Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: Battle Daggers I Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Symphonic Driver (Battle Arena)
Battle Knuckles	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: 150	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: Battle Knuckles III	Advancing Charge (Battle Arena)
Battle Soaring Blades	Level 1: 100 Level 2: 120 Level 3: 150	Level 1: Battle Blade I Level 2: Battle Blade II Level 3: Battle Blade III	Immortal Dove (Battle Arena)
Battle Jet Boots	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Strike Gust (Battle Arena) Grand Wave (Battle Arena)
Battle Rifle	Level 1: 70 Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: ??? Level 2: Battle Rifle II Level 3: Battle Rifle III	Piercing Round (Battle Arena) Steady Shot (Battle Arena)
Battle Machine Guns	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: 120	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: Battle Machine Guns III	Satellite Aim (Battle Arena)
Battle Bow	Level 1: ??? Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: None Level 2: Battle Bow II Level 3: Battle Bow III	Final Nemesis (Battle Arena)
Battle Rod	Level 1: ??? Level 2: 120 Level 3: ???	Level 1: ??? Level 2: Battle Rod II Level 3: ???	Foie (Battle Arena) Zonde (Battle Arena) Megid (Battle Arena)
Battle Talis	Level 1: 100 Level 2: ??? Level 3: ???	Level 1: Battle Talis I Level 2: ??? Level 3: Battle Talis III	Nagrants (Battle Arena)

Weapon appearances change based on their Level, with the Level 3 weapons using the Battle camos from the Battle Coin Barterer.

Maps

When doing a ranked match, the matchmaker will select one out of five stages at random for the match. Each stage has their own limited selection of the weapons above, making the other weapons inaccessible on that map, as well as a Photon Art/Technique selection for weapons with more than one Photon Art/Technique.

Certain maps have hazards that always occur after each weapon update.

Image	Name	Weapon Selection	Hazards
???	VR Forest	Sword Jet Boots Rifle Twin Machine Guns Bow ???	None
???	VR Forest (Rain)	Partisan ???	Lightning: After a Weapon Update, channels a lightning bolt that tracks the top two players with a warning siren. After the warning siren ends, the lightning area of effect ceases to follow the players, and channels a lightning bolt that kills any player caught within the area when it strikes. Water Stream: From spawn point, to the player's left resides a stream of fast water that'll move players going with the flow faster, and significantly slow down players going against the flow.
???	VR Volcano	Knuckles ???	Lava: Instantly kills any player who touches it. Does not kill after the match is over. Rising Lava Level: After a Weapon Update, a warning siren alerts to rising lava. After the siren ends, the lava rises by one stage, and any player positioned in an area that the lava will reach will be given a personal danger indicator. The rising lava will rise twice per match. Rising Platform: In front of each team's spawn point, a platform attached to a central pillar will rise accordingly to the lava level.
???	VR Volcano (Night)	???	Lava: Instantly kills any player who touches it. Does not kill after the match is over. Rising Lava Level: After a Weapon Update, a warning siren alerts to rising lava. After the siren ends, the lava rises by one stage, and any player positioned in an area that the lava will reach will be given a personal danger indicator. The rising lava will rise twice per match. Rising Platform: In front of each team's spawn point, a platform attached to a central pillar will rise accordingly to the lava level.
???	VR Tokyo	???	None

Skills

At the start of a match, players are each given a randomly selected pool of three skills, where they can choose one of them to use from their Sub-Palette. Should the player not choose their skill before the match countdown appears, the game will automatically select their skill.

Image	Name	Description	Properties
???	Cure	Fully restores your HP and heals any status ailments.	Number of Uses: 4
???	Casting Frenzy	Sets your PP consumption to 1 and reduces Max HP when active.	Number of Uses: 2 Max HP: 75%
???	Sprint	Increases your movement speed when active.	Number of Uses: 4
???	Protect	Fully restores your HP, reduces damage taken, and provides resistance to status ailments.	Number of Uses: 1 Reduction Rate: 70%
???	Stun Shot	Launches a guided missile that stuns opponents.	Number of Uses: 3

Points and Emblems

Collecting emblems is the main goal of Emblem Scramble. Each player begins the match by holding 300 Points, but an uneven team size before the match begins will award each player of the handicapped team a few more Points at the start of the match. Collecting an emblem grants that emblem's value in points to the points of the player who collected it.

Emblems come in three forms.

Ally: Grants 1 point but placed in proximity to the player's team spawn. The colour matches the player's team colour.
Enemy: Grants 5 points, and act as an Ally Emblem for the player's opponents. The colour matches the player's opponent team colour.
Rainbow: Grants 10 points, located at the centre of the map or at equal distance from both teams.

Defeating enemies will subtract ~10% of the defeated foe's points, and grant that amount to the one who defeated the foe. Should the opponent be eliminated by a hazard (such as Lightning or Lava), the points are split evenly among all the ally team's members.

Emblem Fever

On rare occasions when a team has a significant point difference from their opponents, there is a small chance that Emblem Fever will occur. All standard positions for the Emblems are temporarily removed, and a group of faster respawning Rainbow Emblems are positioned closer to the losing team, forcing the winning team to move further within the losing team's territory.

After Emblem Fever ends, the remaining fast respawning Rainbow Emblems are removed, and the map's standard Emblem layout is restored.

Ranking & Arena Points

All players start at ?5 Rank, and by winning games, climb their way to the top. Reaching a certain amount of Arena Points (ARP) will increase the player's rank, while losing enough Arena Points will bring the player down a rank. Each rank is segmented into five numeric tiers, with 5 being the worst and 1 being the best of the rank. Achieving enough ARP will bring the player into the next rank's tier 5.

Should the player's team win or lose in ranked matchmaking, the player's individual Arena Points (ARP) will increase when they win and decrease when they lose.

Win: +20 ARP
Loss (C Rank): -?? ARP
Loss (B Rank): -?? ARP
Loss (A Rank): -?? ARP
Loss (S Rank): -15 ARP
Loss (LEGEND Rank): -?? ARP

Battle Coins

At the end of every ranked match, each player is given Battle Coins based on performance, regardless of match outcome. Obtaining a Battle Coin Boost from a previous end of match Scratch Card will boost the battle coins obtained by the amount listed.

By performing better, players are awarded MVP statuses which in turn award additional . MVP Statuses include:

MVP for Most Kills
MVP for Most Damage Dealt
MVP for Most Emblems Acquired
MVP for Least Deaths

In addition, there are also Battle Achievements, giving each player additional . These include:

Killed the most with [A single weapon]
Died the most by [A single weapon]
Kills
Obtained at Least [Multiple of 10] Rainbow Emblems
Consecutive Kills Before Dying

Scratch Card

At the end of each ranked match, players open a special Battle Arena Scratch Card. There are three unique prizes per card, each prize being listed at the top of the card. The player can spend 10 Star Gems to open another prize from the same card, and it can be repeated until all prizes have been redeemed from the scratch card.

Jilad Zalba
Jhirad Maidei
Jilad Mixa
Jilad Butcher
Jhirad Guillo
Jilad Zahal
Jilad Kobe
Jilad Zorau
Jilad Assan
Jilad Gatur
Jilad Volse
Jilad Gredd
Jilad Zeke
Jilad Talon
Jilad Veris
Jhirad Meteo
Jilad Zarul
Warrior Sword
Warrior Lance
Warrior Partisan
Warrior Twin Daggers
Warrior Double Saber
Warrior Knuckles
Warrior Katana
Warrior Soaring Blades
Warrior Gunblade
Warrior Rifle
Warrior Launcher
Warrior Machine Guns
Warrior Bow
Warrior Rod
Warrior Talis
Warrior Wand
Warrior Boots
Coated Edge
Coated Doubliss
Villain Double-Action Rifle
Alchemic Genesis
Battle Coin +200%
Battle Coin +100%
Battle Coin +50%
Casino Coin Pass
EXP 3000 Ticket
Good Fishing Rod
Good Pickaxe

Battle Coin Barterer

Located in the Shopping Plaza, players can exchange the Battle Coins they have obtained from the Battle Arena to purchase a selection of items.

Normal Item Exchange

Outfits

Image	Name	Race (Gender)	Price
???	Rappy Suit Mini	All	100,000
???	Rapid Suit: Red	All (Male)	11,000
???	Rapid Dress: Red	All (Female)	11,000
???	Rapid Suit: Blue	All (Male)	11,000
???	Rapid Dress: Blue	All (Female)	11,000
???	Kabuki Hooligan Armor: Ruby	All (Male)	11,000
???	Kabuki Princess Armor: Ruby	All (Female)	11,000
???	Kabuki Hooligan Armor: Sea	All (Male)	11,000
???	Kabuki Princess Armor: Sea	All (Female)	11,000
???	Moonlight Stalker: Ruby	All (Male)	11,000
???	Night Stalker: Ruby	All (Female)	11,000
???	Moonlight Stalker: Night	All (Male)	11,000
???	Night Stalker: Night	All (Female)	11,000

Weapon Camos

Rarity	Image	Name	Weapon Category	Price
		* Battle Sword		2,800
		* Battle Lance		2,800
		* Battle Partisan		2,800
		* Battle Twin Daggers		2,800
		* Battle Double Saber		2,800
		* Battle Knuckles		2,800
		* Battle Soaring Blades		2,800
		* Battle Gunblade		2,800
		* Battle Rifle		2,800
		* Battle Launcher		2,800
		* Battle Machine Guns		2,800
		* Battle Bow		2,800
		* Battle Rod		2,800
		* Battle Talis		2,800
		* Battle Wand		2,800
		* Battle Boots		2,800

Emotes

Image	Name	Price
???	297: Victory Dance	5,500
???	369: Victory Dance 2	5,500
???	436: Ninja	5,500

Accessories

Image	Name	Price	Notes
???	Stalker Mask	2,800	Unisex Hairstyle
???	Stalker Headgear	2,800	Accessory
???	Rappy Makeup	2,800	Facepaint

Consumables

Image	Name	Price	Notes
???	Arena Booster	250	Used to unlock Arena Potentials on certain weapons.
	Lambda Grinder	200
	Extreme Pass	200
	EXP 15,000 Ticket	200

Limited Prizes

The stock of limited prizes resets every week.

Image	Name	Limit	Price
	10 Star Gems	5	200
	5 Star Gems	10	200
???	Element Enhancement +2%	1	2,800
???	Augmentation Aid +40%	1	1,100
???	Harvesting Stamina Drink (20)	10	50
???	Fishing Stamina Drink (20)	10	50
	Advance Capsule D	50	50
	Advance Capsule E	50	50
	Advance Capsule F	50	50

Emblem Scramble Strategy

Emblem Scramble is the main Player versus Player mode of Phantasy Star Online 2. Due to the many differences from the base game and this game mode, the weird interactions, and the strange networking code, many players might have difficulties approaching and even winning the game. These are some basic strategies to help beginners get started.

Basic Strategy

The main objective is to collect Emblems, not the number of kills, even though getting kills will help your team clinch the victory.
The centre of most maps, often called "mid", houses the Rainbow Emblems, giving 10 Points each. Seizing control of the area is a major factor in winning games.
Collecting enough emblems will place above your character a rank for your team, with "1" being the carrier of the most Emblems on the team. Just remember that both sides can see this status, even through walls.
If you are carrying a lot of emblems, avoid diving head first into the fray, and try playing a bit more safe: with enough emblems, your death can be the equivalent of handing the enemy team the equivalent of several Rainbow Emblems, while removing the same amount of points from your team's total.
On the other side, having few emblems gives you freedom in playing extremely aggressively, so long as you are not Top 3 on your team. Flank and ambush players within enemy territory, run around and try to catch the attention of enemies into chasing you. For every distracted foe, gives your team more chances to take over the middle with a numbers' advantage and farm rainbow emblems.
If there are no threats nearby (or you're flanking), grab the enemy emblems if it's completely safe: each one is worth 5 points, half of a rainbow emblem, and it can turn the tides on a very tight race near the end. But do not even attempt it if even a single foe is nearby, for reinforcements are surely to come and you're going to be overwhelmed.
When a Weapon Update is available, be sure to grab one as soon as possible. If your team has control of mid, try not to abandon the point to get an upgrade as it might be a tactical mistake and it could be impossible to retrieve control. Old weapons still deal great damage on most foes, but beware of Sword, Partisan and Knuckles foes with upgraded weapons, since they gain significant HP increases with each upgrade.
Remember to grab the Rainbow Emblems, even if you have full control of the map. On the flipside, if both sides are too fearful from confrontation, have someone rush in to grab the Emblems, preferably with little Emblems: even if they are killed, the gains will outweigh the losses and the rainbow emblems are removed from the field for the time being.
Do not expect an Emblem Fever to happen to win a losing match. It's incredibly rare.
If the game seems dire, with a severe point difference, the most pressing matter is to eliminate the enemy's top 3. If you can grab the Rainbow Emblems it's even better, but eliminating those targets is much more impactful than having control of the middle in these situations, since it removes a lot points from their team.
By seeing how much points a kill gives, you can tell how much points the enemy team has in their possession: multiply the result by 10 and you get an approximate idea per foe.
In some games, most of the enemy team will focus on attacking your team, while only one or two focus on farming rainbow emblems. In these situations, attempt flanks and avoid fighting the low score foes when possible, for they only serve to waste your time and increase the point divide.
Do not give up. Some games are so dire it is almost impossible to win. But comebacks do exist.
And even if you lose, just remember than until LEGEND, you lose fewer rank points than you gain, with lower ranks losses barely affecting your score. You also get Battle Coins regardless, and a (sometimes exceedingly rare) scratch item.

Weapon Strategies

Sword

Swords are great overall melee weapons. They always have at least two different Photon Arts adapted to various situations. Swords grant massive HP increases (+250 HP at level 3) and deal great damage, often killing most foes in one hit.

Do not forget to use your normal attack! It is a cheap (PP-wise) way to finish off a tumbling foe if the Photon Art has not defeated the enemy.
Try using your guard to protect yourself from slow incoming attacks. Ideally, have a friend eliminate your target while you act as a distraction.
Using the Protect skill is very handy to survive and cause chaos on enemy backlines. But remember that you are not invulnerable, and you can still be hit stunned. With a team attacking you, you will not survive if you are overwhelmed with hit stun.
Swords give out the most HP and require you to be at the centre of attention at times, but you can withstand more punishment than other weapons. Having a Cure Skill will let you stay longer in the fight and remove the Assault Rifle's HP Reducing ailment, making you vulnerable to the fray.
Ride Slash is a powerful and easy to use skill: target your prey and hold the Photon Art to move towards them. Release the button the moment you've hit your foe to finish off the target, otherwise you'll be going in circles and waste time.
Ride Slash consumes PP slowly if you're riding but using PP Frenzy will make the ride not cost any PP, making it great to ambush divided but nearby foes.
Ride Slash seems to have some hit stun protection, but many things will make you exit the attack, so use it when you are sure the enemy can't do anything about it.
Before starting Ride Slash, do a short hop and use it mid-air, while making sure it can still hit foes. This often throws off foes.
Rising Edge has a distant and tall hitbox and comes out quick. It's more forgiving in width than the partisan, but you still need to aim a bit horizontally.
With Rising Edge and Nova Strike, you might have encountered an issue where you perform the move near walls, but it visibly should go through walls the attack, but it doesn't. PSO2 checks to see if a player hits another by drawing a line from your character to the target. If that line hits a wall/object, the hit will NOT count. Always try to get as much of a clear sight to the foe when attacking without walls. If you need to be behind a wall, make as much distance from the wall as possible and hope the foe is as close to the edge as possible.
Nova Strike is excellent to perform a flank on grouped up foes, especially if you have a height advantage. Jump in the centre of the group and strike. However, weapon upgrades are vital for this to work, as it will often fail to finish off upgraded foes due to the sword's damage and the HP Boost from upgraded weapons, leaving you vulnerable to punishment.

Partisan

Partisans are great flanking weapons but require precise aiming to use. The Assault Buster comes out quickly and quietly, and lets you reposition rapidly. It kills weak characters with ease but tends to send flying stronger characters far away, for better or worse.

Don't hesitate to use the basic attack to save some PP if it's safe.
Assault Buster requires precise enough aiming. Like for the sword's Rise Slash, taking a bit of height with a short hop lets the attack cover a bit more height.
The weapon is not great for direct confrontation, as you're more likely to be shot down by Twin Machinegun stuns and the other ranged weapons of Forest (Rain). Flank a single foe, retreat, hide behind enemy lines, and strike again.

Twin Daggers

Twin Daggers offer a unique approach to close combat, making you soar to the skies and be hard to hit during the attack. But on the ground, you are quite vulnerable, so keep away from ranged or melee fighters and strike when unseen. Daggers only appear on Volcano, but also offer unique approaches exclusive to it.

Symphonic Diver can let you climb onto middle from the low side areas of the maps should a foe get close to the ledge.
Symphonic Diver is a very haphazard move: on highly mobile targets it will often miss, but anything slow enough is easy prey.
PP Frenzy in the right hands can be terrifying to fight against, especially with Daggers. Spam Symphonic Diver from behind enemy lines and rack up the kills... if it lands the hits.
When possible, do not try to aim for mobile melee users first, go for the Talis users when they are unaware, as they move little when in the backline.

Knuckles

Knuckles are amazing at close-combat and can eliminate single targets guaranteed with no issues should the combo be performed. It has the best standard attack for melee weapons, dealing great hit stun that lasts longer than the individual hits.

If you control middle, have the knuckles, and weapons update, it's recommended not to go immediately. The Knuckles can lock any foe down from full to zero with basic attacks, and so long as nothing is there to stop the combo, a single target will always die by the Knuckles.
Advancing Charge will inflict Stun, the same kind of Stun the Stun Shot does, at full charge.
Advancing Charge is not your killing move, unlike most melee Photon Arts in the Arena. Its purpose is to lead you into a guaranteed kill with your basic attacks.
Basic attacks can hit faster than the hitstun of each attack can end, making it impossible for a single foe to recover.
Your basic attacks are the killing move. In some cases, there might not even be a need to use Advancing Charge if you closed the distance.
While getting a stun with Advancing Charge is nice, its main goal is to bridge the gap between you and your target. Let your normal attacks finish the job.

Soaring Blades

Soaring Blades allow you to approach and whittle down opponents from afar to finish them off up-close, while granting nice horizontal air movement in the process.

The Weapon Action seems to have small hitstun, but it's not guaranteed to work based on the opponent and the netcode.
Approach foes with the Weapon Action to chip at their health and even finish off weaker foes.
The Weapon Action can aim upwards or downwards if you are targetting the foe in those areas.
Immortal Dove is strong, but if possible try using it twice in a row, to make sure your foes have been defeated: for a powerful attack, it has no tumbling, so if the hitstun ends, you might be wide open to punishment.

Jet Boots

Jet Boots are utility weapons that let you access hard to reach places with ease and are amazing for quick flanks. It also grants the player the double jump. One should avoid direct out in the open confrontation, however.

On maps like Forest, the Jet Boots lets you play around the enemy territory and escape via the terrain, and quickly lets you attack Bow users sniping from afar on the high cliffs with the double jump.