Astria Ascending guide: How to use Astrae summons

A key component in Astria Ascending‘s campaign is your squad’s attempt to gain the powers of the Astrae, the divine beings that govern the zodiac signs. Should you prove to be worthy, you might obtain some powerful abilities. Here’s our Astria Ascending guide to help you use your Astrae summons.

Note: For more information, check out our Astria Ascending guides and features hub.

Astria Ascending guide: How to use Astrae summons

Summons are the primary ability of Alassia (she does, after all, have the Summoner base job). At the start of Astria Ascending‘s campaign, Alassia will only have access to Mig. No, she’s not going to spawn a Russian fighter jet. Instead, one of those little floating Migmies will appear (it’s very weak). Eventually, though, you’ll gain access to more Astrae.

This occurs when you visit the Zodiac Temples as part of the campaign and certain sidequests. In most cases, the initial area of each temple will have a gargantuan statue. Interacting with this will start a boss fight against that particular Astrae. If you manage to defeat this enemy, Alassia will say that she has acquired its power.

Now, if you do wish to summon any entity, you’ll need to have at least one Focus Point. Clicking on the ability will then consume 20% of Alassia’s HP. Likewise, the summon will replace all fighters on the battlefield. It’ll be alone, facing off against several mobs. Moreover, you’ll notice that each summon has its own abilities and HP bar. It’s akin to how Yuna summons the Aeons in Final Fantasy X.

Summons will remain active on the field as long as:

• Their HP isn’t fully depleted.
• You have enough Focus Points left. If you expend too much by using abilities or if their attacks are nullified/resisted/absorbed, they’ll disappear.
• You don’t manually decide to have them despawn.

Are summons in Astria Ascending actually good?

That’s a good question. Personally, I find that most of the Astrae summons in Astria Ascending are very underwhelming. They require Focus Point and HP management, which means they can despawn if you’re not careful. Worse, their abilities are very limited. They tend to have one (sometimes two) elements that they specialize in, and not much else. Because most battles in the game require you to take out multiple mobs with different resistances, it’s possible that your summons won’t be able to get the job done quickly enough. In many ways, a fully built Dagmar (Sorcerer + Black Mage) deals more damage and is a lot easier to use.

Still, Alassia’s Summoner Ascension Tree has some nifty passives that you can pick up. These include Summon Master and Summon Legend, perks that allow monsters to spawn with additional Focus Points.

Astria Ascending is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.