If you’re pushing for S-rank performance in Valkyrie Elysium, then you’ve probably realized the game favors speed and aggression. Every second counts, and the faster you dispatch enemies, the higher your end-mission score will be. In this guide, I’ll walk you through every technique, skill choice, and strategy I used to S-rank all missions—even on hard mode. Whether you’re a speedrunner or just chasing excellence, this is the optimization path you want.

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Maximize Damage with Ambrosia Items

The first step toward an aggressive build is leveraging your resources—starting with the Ambrosia items. There are three types:

• Art Ambrosia: Permanently increases your Art gauge by one bar. This is vital. Use it in Valhalla after completing a mission so it doesn’t count against your item usage score.
• Soul Ambrosia: Adds one bar to your Soul gauge, allowing more frequent use of your Einherjar. This drastically increases your DPS and helps you trigger elemental breaks more consistently.
• Regular Ambrosia: Doesn’t directly help with damage, so feel free to use it as needed.

Make sure to complete all side quests to gather more Ambrosia items. The earlier you boost your Art and Soul gauges, the faster and more efficiently you can crush enemy packs.

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Skill Tree Priorities: Damage and Utility First

For a high-speed build, your progression in the skill trees should follow a focused strategy:

Support Tree:

• Prioritize this first. It increases both Art and Soul limits, allowing you to maintain a more explosive pace in combat.

Attack Tree:

• Range Attack: A gap closer that guards while moving forward. It helps you cross the field without taking hits.
• Chain Attack: Adds four hits to your combo meter and creates openings to extend damage.
• Soul Steal: Allows you to replenish your Soul gauge from enemies near death. Used smartly, this keeps your Einherjar coming almost nonstop.

Defense Tree:

• Quick Evade: Dodge unguardable attacks.
• Precision Guard: Perfect block for counter openings.
• Reversal & Counter Attack: Adds invincibility windows and damage potential.
• Attack Action Time I–III: Widens the timing window for all defensive abilities. These are 100-point earners and help massively during tougher fights.

Defensive skills aren’t just about survival—they’re point multipliers when used right.

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Know Your Enemies: Elemental and Weapon Weaknesses

Don’t ignore your Collection Tab. It not only lists elemental weaknesses but also reveals weapon vulnerabilities for every enemy type. That means you can double exploit weaknesses in most encounters.

Before starting a mission, adjust your weapon loadout and Divine Arts to match enemy resistances. Slaughtering an enemy with their specific counter setup will minimize the window they have to deal damage, letting you maintain your offense.

If an enemy has a lightning, fire, ice, or light weakness, make sure to summon the corresponding Einherjar. These characters passively enhance your Arts with additional elemental power, rapidly filling the elemental break gauge. If no weakness is listed, use your strongest Einherjar—they still provide excellent damage and aggro control.

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Rune Setup: Boost Arts for Fast Breaks

Your weapons should be upgraded to level 10 as soon as possible—this unlocks two Rune slots. The best rune combo? Double Art Restoration Boost. Every enemy has an elemental weakness, and being able to spam Divine Arts lets you chain elemental breaks, which not only immobilize enemies but also make them drop extra gems.

These drops let you upgrade faster, creating a feedback loop that constantly improves your run-to-run power.

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Combat Techniques: Keep the Pressure On

Speed equals points. Here’s how to keep momentum high:

• Soul Chain + Range Attack: Use this combo constantly to stay glued to enemies and extend your hit chain.
• Check Map Often: After each enemy pack, hit the touchpad to bring up your map. Adjusting your route manually ensures you’re always headed toward the objective without wasting time.

Maintaining your hit count is critical. If it drops, your Art recharge slows and your score suffers. Hitting a 500-hit combo in a mission grants a bonus 2,500 points—a huge reward that can mean the difference between A and S ranks.

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Final Thoughts: Play Aggressive, Play Smart

This strategy is tailored for players who want to end each mission with maximum efficiency. Speed is your friend. Maximize your resources, build a skill tree focused on aggressive output, exploit every enemy weakness twice, and don’t forget to manage your hit count through mobility and awareness.

It’s a high-risk, high-reward playstyle that transforms Valkyrie Elysium into a fast-paced dance of destruction—and it’s how I earned S-rank across the board on hard mode.

If you found this helpful, tweak it to match your style. And if you’re more of a defensive player? Some methods here still apply—just adjust the rhythm. Thanks for reading, and see you in the next mission!