re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Switch JRPG Official Thread (84/100 Metacritic)

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The combat is confusing as frick.

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I'll try to simplify it....


1. All weapons have 3-5 hit auto attack sequences and all Blades have Elements
2. To charge Arts (B, Y, and X) and Specials (A) faster - You have to cancel attacks by hitting the button right after an attack finishes, preferably on the final attack of a weapon sequence. This is called a "Cancel" Think of it as "Cancelling the next attack in the sequence or finishing a sequence."
3. You can also "Cancel" into Weapon Switches as well (Directional Up, Right and Down) - this is crucial for building Blade Combos. You can also cancel into Specials. Any kind of cancel builds meter faster, so you want to "Cancel" as often as possible.
4. Blade Combos are executed by a sequence of Specials by multiple party members according to Elements that appear in the Top Right corner, and Special Level (1,2,3)
5. So, for a full sequence, you need to do something like a Level 1 Fire Special (Pyra), A Level 2 Water (Nia and Dromarch using ZR or ZL depending on your party order), and a Level 3 Fire again (Pyra). Sometimes you can do two levels on your own if you generate fast enough. Just follow that chart left to right. Youn have a time limit or each stage of the combo.
6. You do not have to perform all three specials in a row one after the other...but once you initiate a Blade Combo, that is the one you are working towards. Any other special will stop the combo and it will not start a new one. You will and should be auto-attacking and using Arts in between Specials for the combo.
7. The third special in the combo will perform a big attack with special affects and seals - More on that if you want to get advanced
8. The only Outliers are Level 4 Specials which are executed on their own outside of a Blade Combo, still using A, and Chain Attacks which also happen outside of combos. Press Start to execute when your party gauge is a full 3 bars. This breaks seals...but that's high level stuff. Just know that these are just sequences of specials you perform all in a row.


Those are the nuts and bolts.


I left out Seals, Bursts, and Break > Smash stuff because most of that is only once you get good.

ETA: The biggest issue, and the one I think the tutorial misses a bit on, is controlling your teammates Specials on battle. Your teammates are fairly smart, they usually switch to an appropriate element for a combo if necessary and can build meter fast (they also tank and heal well).

So - - in Battle, when a teammate is ready to perform a Special with their current Blade (equivalent to you using A with the roman numeral info in the bottom right - Levels 1-4), their picture will appear on the appropriate side of the screen (Left side for the second person in order, right side for the third person) with 3 points of information:
1. The button to use their Special - ZL and ZR respectively
2. The element color of the current blade they have equipped (Blue for Water, Brown for Earth, Purple for Dark and so forth)
3. The Level of the Special they have ready to use - 1-3 glowing orbs that rotate around the picture

This allows you to use the Teammate to either 1) Start a Blade Combo with a Level 1 Special (even if someone has a level 2 ready, if this is the first special it will initiate the combo as a level 1 special) 2) Use a Special to Continue/Finish a Blade Combo

Just tap ZL or ZR to use that characters current Special

That's it. So for a typical battle, I build Special meter by canceling arts to level 1 , use Pyra's Level 1 Special, by that point in time one or both teammates are up and ready if they have an appropriate blade for the second step of a combo initiated with Fire. Usually it's Nia, so I zap ZL when she has two glowing orbs ready...then I start pumping arts to build Pyra's meter back to Level 3 and tap A when I do. Usually it's close. Later in the game it opens up, especially when you get characters who can all have 3 blades and 3 different elements, it's WAY more flexible and starts to make more sense. They made it really hard, actually, by limiting elements and blade counts so much early.

If you are still in Chapter 3, there's a good chance you don't have enough options to build out flexible options, but Fire, Water and Earth combo into each other very well, so just focus on those elements. If you have other blades - Ice and/or Wind make the early game a little easier for building combos.