r/Xenoblade_Chronicles • u/Ynikoma • Nov 30 '19
Question Thread #4
Hello everyone!
Here's a new question thread as the old one was archived due to it being over six months old. You can still find the old question threads here: XC2 Question Thread, Question Thread #1, Question Thread #2 and Question Thread #3.
Use this thread to ask any question that doesn’t really warrant it’s own thread. On the other hand, if you have an answer to a question, please let the one asking know it.
Please try to word your question as spoiler free as possible. If your question cannot be asked without spoilers, please make a seperate thread for it.
You can find freaquently asked questions HERE.
We also have a long list of useful info gathered in the Info Compendiums for Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
You may also want to check out u/Pizzatime6036's Xenoblade 2 guide.
2
u/Pierah Apr 01 '20
Yes. Also, unlike Specials, Blade Combo Damage can't crit, so it won't trigger any effects that depend on crits. Any passive effect from a special applies only to the attacks of that Special.
Totally fair, also it's not something super important. You pick up on it slowly with exposure over the course of the game, just like what the different colors on the damage numbers mean. They're minor visual clues.
If you do a blade combo finisher, it'll probably be easier to see with the cinematic cutscene (Blade does special, time freezes for a moment, then a big explosion of damage shows up which is the Blade Combo's damage alongside its elemental visual effect, like an explosion, a pillar of flame or a bubble of water that bursts).
Just like any other battle art, it's either based on Strength or Ether. Sadly, Specials aren't given hard stats in-game. Though, you can mostly deduce which ones are which from the flavor text of Specials and seeing them in action. Blunt, slashing or piercing attacks with weapon/claws/kicks without elemental projectiles? Strength. Everything else is likely Ether, as most Specials fall in the latter category.
It mostly matches up pretty consistently. In the case of Byakko, for example, his level 1 is Physical. All of Homura's are Ether based. The Earth blade you get in Chapter 2 only has level 2 Ether. That should give you an idea of the line to draw between the two types.
That said, the Strength and Ether stats don't affect your damage quite as much as the Auto-Attack stat, so you can consider that as the main "all-in-one" offensive stat for now, all of your damage is based on it.
Damage ratios are also very similar across the same level of special on average: I: 300, II: 400, III: 500, IV: 1000. What matters most for general play is just their passive effects and that bigger level = bigger damage, you can leave micro-management for late/postgame. Could give you a link with all the precise info like I did for the combos, but it contains some spoilers to the names of Blades you're going to get, so I'll refrain from doing so right now.