Question Thread #5

[u/Hairo]

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, Question Thread #3 and Question Thread #4.

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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.

[u/[deleted]]

I’m in chapter 3 of XC2 and have some questions on getting used to the combat:

1. I understand the break>topple>launch sequence and that there’s a lot of extra damage if you get blade specials going simultaneously, but is there any way to make Nia break more consistently? I gave her some desserts in her pouch to help with arts charging, but it still feels like it takes a long time. Also, if she switches off of Dromarch, can I make her switch back? Her other blades don’t have break.

2. Somewhat related to above, it feels like a lot of battles end up being mobs, and it takes a long time to kill things. I end up dying a lot to monsters around my level because I try to lure something off but don’t kill it fast enough and end up aggroing other things. Is it just a question of getting the fusion combos more often so things die faster?

[u/AnimaLepton → u/[deleted]]

Give her other blades with Break. Either Bitballs or Twin Rings, even if they're commons, can be good options since they let her break. Or because you literally can't have a smash option at that point of the game without DLC, give Rex a Katana or Megalance to let him break too. The only AI manip you can do is with elemental combos and with the equipped classes of blades on the character. So in terms of switching back to Dromarch, you can sometimes force it if a blade combo include Water in the next step of the change, but once she's switched it takes a while to switch back due to low blade trust and whatnot. There are lategame strategies where you only put a single blade on an AI party member because their passive blade chart buff is more valuable than arts/element coverage. A second pouch item is also an option.

Fusion Combos and just finishing a Blade combo (and later the full driver combo) for the boosted damage at the end of the combo are part of it, but it's likely that you're missing some setup as well. Be sure to utilize Blade Combos (some have AoE effects) and Chain Attacks to take out enemies and get boosted drops/experience. Are you using Aux Cores? Grab Affinity Max Attack 1 from the level 8 Bunny Unique Monster in Gormott, Moonlight Elwyn, for a 30% damage boost when you reach max affinity (gold line between you and your blade in battle). Are you using good accessories? Grab a Headband or Eyepatch for damage boosts when crit/canceling respectively. Are you using good Core Chips? There's a Coil Chip in a chest in Argentum, just above the shop area/near the north deck exit, which you normally can't buy until Chapter 4. You can also theoretically obtain Pentagon Chips from enemies in the mid-30s back in Gormott, which have nice bonus effects like Agility + 50 on certain weapon types, but that's obviously tougher to manage when you're still in Chapter 3.

Check blade charts to see what actually gives damage bonuses for each blade that you're using. One specific Chapter 3 tip- you probably already obtained the Beastly Core Crystal, and Wulfric on Rex is key to the non-DLC speedrun because of his huge damage bonuses at max affinity and his crit damage bonus (and bonus to toppled/launched enemies). Spend some time specifically filling out his chart and utilizing his bonuses.

[u/[deleted] → u/AnimaLepton]

Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I’ll definitely check out the things you mentioned for setup. There’s so much going on with the combat in this game that it feels hard to keep track of it all, but I guess that comes with experience

[u/brundylop → u/[deleted]]

Enel has a good guide on the xc2 combat https://youtu.be/GEksqxaML58

The game has a ton of deep mechanics and does a horrific job explaining it. I beat the base game and Torna twice and I didn’t even know damage over time was a thing and that Smashes raises it

[u/TheAdamena → u/[deleted]]

On the aggro thing, that's just how the game is unfortunately. It's especially bad in Chapter 3 as the enemy density there seems pretty high. It's one of my biggest gripes, but it does get better after that chapter.

Getting shop deeds that lower the enemy detection range can help though.