Gaming Xenoblade Chronicles 2 battle system help?

[Deleted User]

Hey all, generally I don't do this with jrpg games (get help that is), but I genuinely feel like this one has just got me stumped.

So I'm currently doing the Vandham questline, and im getting SLAUGHTER by enemies. They;re like, 18-26, and any of the 20's are anniahlating me.

I'm not entirely sure that I understand the battle system, so correct me if i'm wrong.

You auto attack as your base attack. You then have arts that charge up. You use those arts. which then builds up your special.

Playing as rex, this takes FOREVER. Just normal fights feel crazy long slogs. I save often, and quite often find myself saving almost every 30 minutes or so.

The "press zr/zl"thing, with the other charaters, what am I supposed to be doing with that? Use them with my own arts? Cus I don't see any idication that I've done anything special?

Let me know if there's any tips you could give, it'd be much appreciated.

 

[grossaffe]

The ZR/ZL thing is to tell one of your allies to use their blade's special attack. You want to try to chain them together. After one of the special arts is set off, there will be a tree in the top-right of the screen of attack types that you can build a chain out of. There will be different effects as you chain the attacks together. Chain three together and there will be an elemental that orbits the enemy of the same type as the element of the final attack. This comes in handy when you perform a Chain Attack (press '+', I believe, once your party guage is maxed out), because for each orbiting elemental you break during a Chain Attack, you will get you will get another round of free attacks, with each round getting progressively stronger allowing you to deal massive damage.

 

[orcid]

At the beginning it is very helpful if you don't forget to level up your weapons. Also dont forget to sleep in inns to level up your characters. Avoid fighting large group of enemies or seperate large groups by throwing stones (d-pad down).
You use the ZR/ZL button to use the special attacks of the other characters. Combine those attacks for a very powerful combo. For example start with Pyra a your special I flame attack. Then you see the combo tree in the upper right corner. The next possible route is water or fire. So you can use the II special attack of pyra or wait for Nia offering you her II water attack with the ZL button. After pressing ZL you can use Pyra's III attack and you will do very much damage.
You are at the beginning of the game and the attacks still build up very slow. It is hard to do such a combo. Later you will do special attacks all the time.

 

[linuxares]

I'm lvl 40 at that place... I happened to do a grind day and found some nice spots. But generally, if you have Pyra, try to position you behind the enemies since the swords thrust makes tons of damage.
Also one of the best combos I found is to get a wind blade for Nia. Then chain first Stone, then Vulcano and last Volcaino Wind. It does shit loads of damage. If you want an AOE attack is Fire, Steam Bomb then Mega Steambomb. It's really powerful for an AOE.

I got some nice tips how to power level as well. On the normal map "Gortto" or whatever it's called. There is an Oasis. If you teleport to it, and run straight through it. To the left there will be a tiny hill. There you will find often 2-4 sleeping squirell creatures, they give tons of XP and do almost no damage to you. They have a power called "Escape Route" so sometimes they run away. But if you got a blade with cancel attack it can help also sometimes they fail to run away. That's mostly how I grinded, plus I found some nice spots to both dig and earn core crystals. (Also got some unique blades as well, they help a lot. Especially with Nia).

 

[orcid]

The ZR/ZL thing is to tell one of your allies to use their blade's special attack. You want to try to chain them together. After one of the special arts is set off, there will be a tree in the top-right of the screen of attack types that you can build a chain out of. There will be different effects as you chain the attacks together. Chain three together and there will be an elemental that orbits the enemy of the same type as the element of the final attack. This comes in handy when you perform a Chain Attack (press '+', I believe, once your party guage is maxed out), because for each orbiting elemental you break during a Chain Attack, you will get you will get another round of free attacks, with each round getting progressively stronger allowing you to deal massive damage.

Chain attacks are introduced after the Vandham quest.

 

[Scarlet]

As a fun extra note, if you want to do the automatic attacks faster, nudge the left stick between attacks. It moves your character slightly and cancels the animation, so they'll go straight into the next attack. It helps charge attacks quicker, and in turn, kill things quicker (before they get a chance to kill you lol). If you lose HP a lot, try to make sure you have at least one blade handy that'll drop the HP potions. Pyra has a skill, but there are better users (generally healer types).

 

[Deleted User]

Cheers for the tips and help folks, think I understand it now.

One last thing, with doing the special (A) attack, am I just aiming for as early in bright blue as possible, or later until time is almost completely gone?

 

[linuxares]

Chain attacks are introduced after the Vandham quest.

And god damn they mostly kill me instead of the enemy...

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Cheers for the tips and help folks, think I understand it now.

One last thing, with doing the special (A) attack, am I just aiming for as early in bright blue as possible, or later until time is almost completely gone?

It works like this.

If you go for a first with Pyra, you set the enemy on fire. Then if you go with Nia with water, it will be a steam bomb.

But if you want to make a Volcano for example. First must Tora attack with Poppy, stone that is. Then you must wait for lvl 2 Special with Pyra to make the Volcano. Then Nia must wait for lvl 3 special to make her wind attack I explaind before. It gets more and more powerful until lvl 3 that is. That's why it's important to try to time them.

 

[Deleted User]

lol, and 1 MORE question, is there any particular blades I should be hunting after? Or is there any special blades to be unlocked with Core Crystals & the correct addon to the crystal?

 

[linuxares]

lol, and 1 MORE question, is there any particular blades I should be hunting after? Or is there any special blades to be unlocked with Core Crystals & the correct addon to the crystal?

It depends on your builds. I put on Tora to recieve agro, I always try to balance my Chips to most damage since the criticals are so few between. Nia I try to make the best with healing things on her and cores that are giving less agro etc.

 

[Deleted User]

And god damn they mostly kill me instead of the enemy...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


It works like this.

If you go for a first with Pyra, you set the enemy on fire. Then if you go with Nia with water, it will be a steam bomb.

But if you want to make a Volcano for example. First must Tora attack with Poppy, stone that is. Then you must wait for lvl 2 Special with Pyra to make the Volcano. Then Nia must wait for lvl 3 special to make her wind attack I explaind before. It gets more and more powerful until lvl 3 that is. That's why it's important to try to time them.

no no, not the chaining, I'm talking about special attacks and it's quick time event.

 

[linuxares]

no no, not the chaining, I'm talking about special attacks and it's quick time event.

Ah okey. Well if you look up at the name with the enemy when you fight it, you might notice a flame, that means it's weak against fire. Also when you do certain chains it might change mid combo so if you can, hopefuly you can time it correctly with one of your allies. Different blades does different quick time and special attacks. Also it's also all depends on the enemy and WHEN you do. If they're toppeled or launched etc. it's even more damage. It takes time to learn this to be honest.

 

[Deleted User]

Ah okey. Well if you look up at the name with the enemy when you fight it, you might notice a flame, that means it's weak against fire. Also when you do certain chains it might change mid combo so if you can, hopefuly you can time it correctly with one of your allies. Different blades does different quick time and special attacks. Also it's also all depends on the enemy and WHEN you do. If they're toppeled or launched etc. it's even more damage. It takes time to learn this to be honest.

ok cool, thanks

 

[orcid]

lol, and 1 MORE question, is there any particular blades I should be hunting after? Or is there any special blades to be unlocked with Core Crystals & the correct addon to the crystal?

Use the blades you get. It doesn't make sense opening hundred of cores to get a particular blade.
I finished the game with a classical setup. Having Rex for attacks, Nia as a healer and the third member was a tank. But you can also balance your characters.
If you get special cores you should maybe google which type of character is inside before opening the core. So you can assign the blade to the character you want.

 

[Issac]

The special attack, it's the light blue rings you're aiming for. Sometimes they're at the outside, sometimes they're on the inside (I think), but it's those you're aiming for. Doesn't matter when you hit them, as long as you hit them It's the same when you're salvaging.

 

[grossaffe]

As a fun extra note, if you want to do the automatic attacks faster, nudge the left stick between attacks. It moves your character slightly and cancels the animation, so they'll go straight into the next attack. It helps charge attacks quicker, and in turn, kill things quicker (before they get a chance to kill you lol). If you lose HP a lot, try to make sure you have at least one blade handy that'll drop the HP potions. Pyra has a skill, but there are better users (generally healer types).

won't that keep you from getting to the stronger auto-attacks and thus stronger arts when cancelling an auto-attack?

 

[Scarlet]

won't that keep you from getting to the stronger auto-attacks and thus stronger arts when cancelling an auto-attack?

Hmm... Fair point there, I should time the difference against the same enemy. It's definitely helped me out in a pinch to get my special charged to stage three quicker, as well as getting a healing art ready. Something worth considering.

 

[Ryupower]

make sure you are upgrading your blades with chip as well

DRIVER combo, Break->Topple->Launch->Smash (you might not be able to do a full one yet)
this combo can make the monster drop items after the smash , and you still can get drops after you kill it (a chain attack kill can get you better drops as well)
that can help if you need to farm chips from monster that drop them

Blade combo specials attack I->II->III (you can see the level on lz/rZ with the orb around the icon shown on screen)

i think a fusion combo is during a blade combo do a driver combo (dose not need to be a full one)