Thread 714947642

Can someone explain the combat and what blades or classes to use for this game? I feel like I'm banging my head up against a way after coming off of X's straightforward combat.

>>714947642 (OP)
wall*

The combat "loop" doesn't fully open until you get into blade combo stuff, which is in chapter 3.
Basically, combat will focus around you doing level 1, 2, and 3 attacks of the correct element to put "orbs" on the enemy, then shatter them with a chain attack for massive damage. There are highly specialized builds for individual characters that are viable and with endgame items and equipment you can ignore this mechanic and nuke super bosses with characters that chain combos or self heal.
There's also the break topple launch and smash combo, which is far simpler and its benefits are obvious.
The tutorials in this game are terrible, you'll just eventually hit a wall and have to learn the mechanics better to progress. I've played this game 300 hours and I probably still did a shit job explaining it.

>>714947642 (OP)
Honestly the combat and the game as a whole is pretty shit.
The gacha, the field skills, the constant unnatural backtracking for blade skill progression. Its just poorly made and thought out in every facet.
Torna, it's dlc, is much better paced and thought out with a tighter knit team. Progression is well executed naturally as well. The lone single downside is the main story brick wall right before the final boss.
Drop 2 and move to Torna or 3

>>714948692
Get out of here, retard

>>714947642 (OP)
Read up on fusion combos. Basically you want to combine driver and blade combos. Early game you use break arts and then do blade combos. Little bit later you can use something like launch - Wulfric lvl IV special.

>>714947642 (OP)
>combat
Auto-attacks -> Arts -> Specials -> Blade Combos -> Chain Attack
Driver combos exist both to stunlock the enemy and give you additional damage through either Smash or using Fusion Combo mechanics, I would recommend looking this one up because you can do some fun stuff with them and will especially speed up combat at any point in the game.
Seals produced by BC finishers can be helpful against certain bosses and challenge mode stages, but for most of your gameplay this mechanic can be entirely ignored.
Your party setup should be able to perform at very least one full blade combo path and it's ideal to have at least both Break and Topple.
>Blades and classes
Heavily depends on the blade's own affinity chart, but generally avoid shield hammers. Every other class has good rares, some better than others. Do not instantly discard commons, they can get very strong and unique combat skills along with helpful field skills.
The best class imo is Chroma Katana, coming with decent DPS, evasion arts, and generally dodgetanking is just better than the alternative.

As for story blades, once Rex gets Mythra you will feel the massive upgrade. Not that Pyra was bad, but she does not have something like foresight to double as both support and DPS.
Dromarch is complete trash, only useful for early Break and healing. Give Nia a Bitball and/or Ether Cannon instead. Or hell, give her a common twin rings with actually good skills.
Poppi doesn't get good until Poppi QTpi, from an optional endgame quest. But, once you get her and grind enough ether crystals, this is the single most broken blade in the entire game.
Brighid is extremely good as long you only use her and don't switch out. Her passive stacks up to some strong damage and if you know what you are doing you should almost never be in danger.
Pandoria is very meh until NG+ because of one affinity chart node on her driver. Basically don't expect much before you get that.

>>714948802
It's true

>>714949373
I hate nu-Xenoblade so fucking much. Everything after 2 base game was a mistake.

>>714949562
1 > X > Torna > > > 3 > > > > > 2

>>714947642 (OP)
You can beat the game in any way you want because min maxing in this game is much pointless, that said for most of the story you should give your drivers (the humans) blade types (the weapons) that match their story blade because that's how class stat bonuses will be more optimal. Everyone can use about every blade type but giving Nyah, someone that focuses on healing, hammers doesn't help her much. Certain blades grant certain stat bonuses and you want them to stack in your favor.

With that out of the way, eventually you will reach a point of the game where you can rearrange things better so just progress the story. You will get tutorials for the battle system all the way until the final chapter but what matters is the following:
-Completing Blade Combos (the 3 elemental attacks chain) will inflict the enemy with a floating elemental orb, you want to put multiple of those like 3-5 of strong enemies to then...
-Do a Chain Attack. When the bar for chain attacks is full (the bar with 3 segments that uses 1 per revive) is full you hit the + button and then you attack with elemental attacks contrary to the floating orbs attributes to break them and inflict huge damage per destroyed orb.
-There's also the Driver Combo attacks, which are a simple sequence of status moves that end up causing a lot of damage (and item drops) if you complete them. Break > Topple > Launch > Smash. Ideally you want your Drivers to have skills that complete this chain sequence.

Driver Combos and Blade Combos can stack to deal insane damage which multiplies if you trigger a Chain Attack while the enemy is like in Launch status or something. We are talking damage enough to melt life bars.

There are more advanced tips and builds but most of that shit is end game stuff, right now what you want is to proceed the plot, complete affinity charts and pull from the gacha. Do not pull that much with Rex. Don't pull with Rex at all. He doesn't need it and Mythra/Pyra mog the competition.

>>714947642 (OP)
Use your arts. Charge them faster by doing more auto attacks. Stack orbs by following the flowchart in the top right. Break orbs in a chain attack for big damage.
>what blades or classes to use
Whatever the game gives you. Don't stop to grind. Do what sidequests you come across that don't seem annoying, some of them have blades. Don't pull too much on Rex, his guaranteed story stuff is plenty.
Worrying about what blades you have beyond ensuring some elemental coverage is basically only relevant in the postgame. Just keep your equipment up to date, stay on level, and don't worry too hard about how awful some of the affinity charts are.

>>714948692
>Honestly the combat and the game as a whole is pretty shit.
Brainlet who couldn't figure out combos detected.

>>714949710
In terms of combat? No.
2 > X > Torna > 3 > 1

OP here. I want to thank you all for taking the time to help me with all your input. I will do my best to make things work a bit better.

>>714949361
Don't underestimate QT. Remember that lingering attacks benefit from Chain Attack, so using her missile barrage and then quickly moving into Chain will have every single missile benefit from the extra chain attack damage. You can easily pick up one of the accessories that makes your chain attack 1000% damage at the start to make that attack deal millions of damage even in chapter 6.

Oh yeah, and something that should definitely be mentioned is the freebie rare blades.

>Wulfric
Best deal you can get in terms of availability and usefulness, very good DPS blade and even gets common field skills. Use him, right now.
>Roc
No. Sure, he is available early enough but with his affinity chart requiring to raise your merc level and not actually coming with anything noticeable outside of one Smash art, he should be benched asap.
>Praxis&Theory
Praxis would have been amazing if it wasn't for 1 hit specials and 1 aux core slot. Well, lance is a good weapon and she is strong for main game enemies anyway. Theory is better imo because she offers survivability on top of actually some decent damage, especially coming from her lv3 special.
>Aegaeon
He does his job. Do use him if you want a katana. Doesn't really have anything too unique going for it, but the weapon class is good.
>Kasandra
She can gain aggro, she can keep it, you get more health just by having her equipped, there was absolutely an attempt to make her good, unfortunately the weapon class is just too limited.
>Sheba
Ok. Usable if you are willing to play with a party of mostly girls, not exactly a bad requirement since most of the good blades are female and Ether Cannon is cool on Nia, but if you ask me she isn't worth it. Also falls off miserably in endgame, muh 1hit specials.
>Vess
Lol
>Herald
Using her normally is difficult, but there is one very broken strat involving her special bullet animations and chain attacks. Look that up, it's very strong and doesn't fall off until challenge mode.

DLC ones
>Crossette
This is NOT a healer blade, she is your main DPS. Gather those potions, do them fusion combos properly, delete enemies.
What else is there to say? She is good, too good in fact. Also too cute.
>Corvin
At this point you aren't even playing the game anymore. The evasion art is spammable and makes you invincible, and his personal damage is also good. And he gets to purge rage. Holy fuck dude.

>>714952201
Scattershot strat was nerfed into the ground by specifically reducing the accuracy when you initiate chain attacks.
Sorry, but the devs decided to just kill that.

>>714947642 (OP)
>Auto-Attacks charge Arts
>Arts charge Specials
>Specials have four levels (I/II/III/IV)
>Special IV can only be used at max Affinity (when the tether between Driver and Blade is gold) and charges up from Special III over a short time while in close proximity with the Blade while auto-attacking or moving
>Blade Combos are an elemental flowchart that appear in the top corner after using a Special
>Three stages, Element 1 (I/II/III/IV) > Element 2 (II/III/IV) > Element 3 (III/IV) = Blade Combo finisher
>Finisher puts an elemental orb on the enemy, with up to eight orbs corresponding to eight different elemental finishers
>Chain Attack at full Party Gauge and use Blade elements to attack the orbs (3 HP) (corresponding elements target one another and do 2 damage, like Pyra always targets Water, otherwise it's random and only does 1 damage)
>Each broken orb extends the duration of your Chain Attack for another turn, each party member uses a higher stage Special on each turn up to III
>Break 4-5 orbs (depends on how many turns it takes) to activate Full Burst where the entire party does insane damage with their level IV Specials at the same time

Driver Combo (Break > Topple > Launch > Smash)
>Break (interrupt the enemy's attack, makes them susceptible to Topple)
>Topple (knock down the enemy, they take way more damage and can't do anything, makes them susceptibility to Launch)
>Launch (sends the enemy flying into the air, attacks do even move against them, they can't do anything, susceptible to Smash)
>Smash (slam the enemy to the ground for huge damage, they drop their reward items even if they don't die, meaning it's possible to farm beefy enemies over and over again in one battle

Fusion Combo (Driver Combo during a Blade Combo, Blade Combo during a Driver Combo)
>The narrator says it in a brief pause
>Blade Combo time window extended
>Boosted damage depending on how far you're into either

Old pastatips
-Rex automatically gets fantastic blades so you don't need to give him much Blades from the gacha (but give him 2-3 good ones)
-Use Pouch Items as much as possible, especially the ones that lets you recharge your Arts faster. Makes the flow of the battle better
-On skill trees, you will see an ability unlock "Cancel a driver art with another driver art". It's imperative that you unlock this ASAP because it boosts the flow of battle tremendously.
-Also get the 3 skills that lets you start a battle with the Art already charged on the X, Y and B buttons
-Understand the Attack Cancelling mechanic, as it makes the flow of the battle better by recharging Arts quickly
-Swapping blades refills their arts palette.
-You can combo into and out of swapping blades
-Most enemies will aggro you if you aren't 8 levels above them
-Don't use too much bonus XP at inns unless you really need to because it can trivialize the game
-Focus on the Driver Combo of Break > Topple > Launch > Smash when they will be introduced. The sooner you can understand this set up, the better
-Raising trust with your Blade is needed to unlock the Blade's skill tree in most cases, you can also spam them gift to boost their trust
-Don't waste protocol overdrives. Especially on common blades. The game only gives you a few.
-DON'T kill the little Arduran in Torigoth until you feed it to Lv.99. He'll become the best Legendary Cores farming spot
-Click the left stick in battles to hide Blade names and Arts name on the battle UI
-Generic blades can still be good, don't write them off if they're not rare
-Use your benched party members as HM Pokemons with the common elements for the Field Skills checks
-Completing a generic 4* blade affinity chart then releasing it gives you an overdrive protocol

(1/2)

>>714952540
(2/2)

-Go back and play Tiger Tiger every so often, no difference in rewards between Normal and Easy. Though Lv.5 gives you special items sometimes.

Combat (after Ch.3) revolves around:

>Triggering the Art Cancel on the 3rd auto attack (shows as a blue bubble around your character if you timed the press right)
>Blade Combos (To slap elemental orbs on enemies after you use Lv.3 Special through one Blade)
>Driver Combos (Break > Topple > Launch > Smash) (much like in XC1, with 1 more possibility)
>Fusion Combos (satisfyingly doing max damages by doing Blade and Drivers Combos at the same time, when the enemy is hit by a Driver Combo finisher (Smash) immediately following a Blade Combo finisher)
>Triggering the Chain Attack Combo once you have 3 party gauge
>Seals (Only really useful on some superbosses and in Challenge Mode)

Also

>Upon finishing a Blade combo, the last element of the combo will put an orb of said element on the enemy and seal a specific type of enemy ability, like its ability to summon allies (dark orbs), afflict Stench status (water orb), etc.
>Having an elemental orb raises the enemy's defense against that element
>An enemy can have more than one elemental orb stacked on him, but the seals do not stack (if you put a Dark orb followed by a Water orb, only Stench will be sealed, he'll be able to summon allies again)
>Orbs can only be broken in Chain Attacks. Each orb has 3 effective HP. Elemental Specials will always automatically target Orbs of their opposite element and deal 2 damage to that orb (an orb will glow if you currently have a Blade equipped of its opposite element, Fire<>Water, Lightning<>Ground, Ice<>Wind, Dark<>Light, think of Pokémon type matchups but as two-way streets if you're confused, so Fire beats Water but Water also beats Fire)
>If the elemental Special you've used has no orb of the opposing element to target, it'll target one orb at random and deal 1 HP worth of damage (out of 3)

>>714952359
Added later because character limit

>Poppibuster
Basically exists only to show that shield hammers could have been good. That's what it does, she isn't super broken or anything like that, it's merely a functional facetank.

For what hasn't already been said,

It's not a bad idea to give Rex Blades because you want to level up Idea Levels for damage output and summoning rarer Blades, and you do that by sending Common Blades on Ursula's Merc Missions. Stacking high levels of the required elements can reduce the 10 minute duration down to just 2, and each time it fills 3 nodes of the affinity chart halfway.

Each Driver uses each weapon type differently in available Arts and animation speeds, in terms of best weapon type per character:
>Rex: Aegis Sword (Topple), Megalance (Break), Chroma Katana (Break), Twin Rings
>Nia: Ether Cannon (Break), Chroma Katana, Bitball (Break)
>Fourth: Whip Sword (Break), Megalance (Smash), Chroma Katana (Smash), Shield Hammer (Topple)
>Fifith: Big Bang Edge (Launch), Greataxe (Topple), Bitball, Knuckle Claws (Topple)
They do get more sources of the Driver Combo with less compatible weapons, but some animations like Great Axe!Nia or Megalance!Zeke are awfully slot.
>Rex: Greataxe (Launch), Dual Scythes (Smash)
>Nia: Twin Rings (Break), Great Axe (Topple), Knuckle Claws (Launch)
>Fourth: Ether Cannon (Break), Knuckle Claws (Break)
>Fifth: Ether Cannon (Break), Shield Hammer (Launch), Megalance (Smash)

Core Chip is your weapon in this game, don't neglect your Auto-Attack stat on your main DPS Blade per party member since it affects all sources of damage.

Fusion Combo where you do a Blade Special, then do a complete Driver Combo extends the duration and amplifies any damage over time effects, and can stack every time you Smash. Poppi's Earth > Pyra's Fire is the strongest one you can do.
The opposite Fusion Combo (have all Blade Special prompts ready with ZL, ZR, and A, set up a Driver Combo, then use those Specials consecutively) is best right before a time-stopping Chain Attack, since it's a huge attack increase but harder to exploit due to the shorter duration of Driver Combos.

Mentioned enough already but seconding it:
Consistent fusion combo setups require no more than 1 blade per party member and are infinitely better than orb stacking(and those naturally require more blades). This is true both for the strat where you stack multiple blade combos on Break or Topple - and the DoT blade combo into Smash setup.
They are extremely dependant on your Break chance, so you should get a Beta Scope asap. The difference will be massive, those become available in Tantal.

>>714953201
>harder to exploit due to the shorter duration of Driver Combos.
LV4 specials and a finisher also stop time. Getting off at least two stages is easy, the problem will be the timing for the third.
The ideal sequence is something like
>Break -> initiate BC1 from ally -> Topple right before the BC effect is applied -> LV4 special(BC2) -> BC3 finisher -> chain attack
With good timing, this is 2 rounds of damage caps on every hit. Even our girl Electra will shit out caps with some investment, it helps that she specifically has a damage boost on Topple.

OP about to destroy the game in half with that much advice.

Im in chapter 5 and Im already aware of how things work. It still feels like shit though, everything is way too fucking slow. Even upgraded it takes forever to charge your blade combos, the ai never gets shit done. And driver combos are super tedious to get off cause most drivers have terrible animations with half the weapons for no good reason.

It's gauges to fill up gauges to fill up gauges.
Add in elemental resistance/weakness then you get party and gear composition.
What the game doesn't explain is how certain blade weapon types work better on certain drivers.