Ultra Moves always come in handy in Chained Echoes, but which are the best to use when you're in dire straits?

Chained Echoes' gameplay can look deceptively familiar to fans of the genre, and on the surface, it certainly is similar: you take your turn to attack the enemy, defend yourself to reduce damage on the next turn or support your party with various effects and items. Typical stuff, but when you take into consideration both the Overdrive Gauge and Ultra Moves, things start looking a little different.

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Each character comes with an Ultra Move that is unique to them and varies in utility. Some will do massive damage, and others are supportive. While each Ultra Move technically has some usage in the party, some are more useful than others. Which one is your favorite?

Having the ability to manifest a magical gun that fires an enormously powerful laser at your target is undoubtedly cool, and Ba'Thraz being a mercenary with both honor and power in abundance gives his Ultra Move some extra points in style.

Divine Genesis Impact hits your target ten times in a row with raw power based on your current attack and ignores any elemental resistance the target might have. As great and strong as that is, his attack is only the tip of the iceberg.

Egyl’s ability could be considered situational. Yes, his Ultra Move, Wall of Ouroboros, could legitimately pull you out of a steep hole in battle, but that only depends on if you have him in your party in the first place. Other tanks do a decent job by the time you acquire him, so you might not be moved to use him.

Yet, consider what his Ultra Move does: it negates all physical damage for all your party members for two turns. It’s a hell of a boon when your party is backed off into a corner, but could potentially come at the cost of another Ultra Move that could deal massive damage.

On the other side of the negation coin, you have Raphael, an honorable *former* knight of the holy church, who has joined you in your cause. His Ultra Move, Darkest Moon Inquisition, renders all enemies’ magic attacks useless for two turns. The bosses hit harder as you head toward the end, so it can come in handy.

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Sure, that’s not all he brings. Raphael does use his skills as an inquisitor to call spirits to do his bidding by either attacking the intended target or healing some TP for recovery. All of it is well and good, but nothing beats summoning a giant eggshell to encompass an entire planet, just to protect you from magic attacks.

The first caster to show up on the list, Victor is a bard of the magical variety, meaning that he heavily relies on TP to perform effectively in battle. It makes sense that his Ultra Move focuses on recovery instead of damage, and though he can at the very least cast some defensive wind and earth magic, it isn’t his strong suit.

His Cosmos Orchestra completely refills the party’s TP and casts TP and HP regen for five turns. It doesn’t sound like a lot, and depending on how you feel about the regeneration being based on your turn, it might turn you off on using it, but definitely at least try it once to see if it fits your playstyle.

In terms of raw power, Sienna is one of the strongest characters you can play, so it makes sense that her Ultra Move, Heavenly Twintail Swallow, can hit for thousands of damage on a single enemy. Visually, it takes you to her hidden death house, where she attempts to finish off her target with a single strike.

Though it may not always end with an enemy defeated, Sienna gains two buffs from performing this Ultra Move that heavily increases both her agility and her crit percentage, preparing her to hit harder on her next turn.

Going in the opposite direction, Lenne’s Ultra Move goes for crowd control, as her Elemental Rainfall (ironic, since it does non-elemental damage) goes for all enemies on the field with her giant lance. When you first get Lenne into the party, the Ultra move doesn’t hit for much, but that’s just a seedling waiting for skill points to start blooming.

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Once you start leveling her stats and gear, she becomes a wrecking ball of pain that can clear whole fields if you let her and her lance fly. Lenne is best used when close to the end of a fight when she has the highest chance of a finishing blow.

Princess Amalia has healing abilities that compare to no other in the game. Shields, heals, and auto revive? She’s already set to give the party full support with her skill set alone. Well, not only that, she has the help of her guns and dog, Cres, too. He is a good boy.

But on top of all that, her Ultra Move, Howl of Healing, can heal the entire party fully and pull them from the brink of defeat during a tricky fight, which can happen fairly often if you aren’t careful. Amalia more than pulls her weight on the party.

You’ve got to hand it to Mikah: she has almost magic hands. As one of the party’s heavy hitters, it’s obvious that her Ultra Move, Tiger and Dragon, would tie into being a heavy damage dealer as well. Ten strikes with a decent chance of landing a crit on half of them? Can’t beat that.

However, you can add to it. Tiger and Dragon can also add status effects to the enemy, particularly, blind, which can make attacks miss you on your next turn. There are some differences depending on which crystals you put on, so feel free to play around and experiment.

The witch who commands the four elements, Magnolia isn’t without her tricks — even during combat, her card-based weapon has RNG integrated into how she uses it. Magnolia may hit a decent attack with a crit, or she might miss altogether instead. It’s a style that fits her.

That isn’t to say that she plays without a plan. When all else fails, Magnolia can summon her Ultra Move, Ancient Song of Lamentum, which does devastating light damage to the enemy party. There’s a lot of power packed into those wings of hers — just be glad she’s on your side.

So, Golden Boy Glenn sits at the top of this list for the simple fact that his Ultra Move, Power Armor Salvo, has been consistently strong and debilitating since you first meet him. It hits all the targets on the field, but so what? It's nothing other characters have done before.

But, what he has over characters with a simple multi-target attack is the utter devastation of status effects that hit your enemy. Upon selection, Glenn fixes a little ol' mech to carry out his giant attack. When he does, the attack casts all four stat debilitating effects: Strength Break, Defense Break, Magic Break, and finally, Mind Break.

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Rena is a writer at TheGamer.com. She loves to learn, write, and create for games and comics in her spare time. You can find her on Twitter @RenaDarling2U