Combat, Explained

What Is Charge-Time Turn Order?

If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, or the ATB Final Fantasy games, you already know the feel. Here's the system spelled out, and how Apex & Abyss builds tactics on top of it.

How a turn actually works

1. Gauges fill by speedEvery hero and enemy has an action gauge that charges continuously. A high-speed rogue fills faster than a heavy warrior, so it reaches its turn sooner — and may act twice before a slow unit acts once.
2. The full gauge actsWhen a unit's gauge tops out, the action pauses on that unit. There's no timer counting down and no rush — you have all the time you need to read the board.
3. Move, then one actionOn its turn, the unit moves across the 12×12 grid, then takes a single action: attack, cast a skill, or use an item. Then its gauge resets and the charge begins again.

Why it's deeper than "I go, you go"

In classic round-based combat, everyone acts once per round in a fixed order. Charge-time breaks that open: speed becomes a resource you can build around. Stack speed and a hero slips extra turns between enemy actions. Slow an enemy and you steal turns from it. The order on the timeline is something you actively shape, not something you wait out.

And unlike real-time or auto-battlers, nothing happens until you decide. It's the tension of an action game with the full control of turn-based tactics.

Bending the turn order

Once turn order is a system instead of a rule, it becomes a battlefield of its own:

• Frost slows a target's gauge, pushing its next turn further out.
• Speed and haste effects pull your heroes' turns forward.
• Status timing matters — burn lingers, bleed compounds with each strike, and when those ticks land relative to enemy turns can decide a fight.

Position is half the turn

A turn isn't only when you act — it's where. On the grid, height, cover, and facing change what an action does. Taking high ground, hitting an enemy from behind, or stepping out of a line of fire is often worth more than raw damage. The move step and the action step are one decision.

How Apex & Abyss uses it

Charge-time turn order is the spine of every fight across all 200 floors. On top of it sit 50+ branching skills, four classes that split into eight specializations mid-run, perks, and team-wide artifacts — all of which give you levers to pull on the timeline. It's a system built for players who want tactics that ask something of them, not a battle that plays itself.