/xgg/ Xenoblade 2 Advanced FAQ

/xgg/ Xenoblade 2 Advanced FAQ (tips, combat, quests, misc, late game)
Last update: 26th July 2018

This FAQ is for players who are already a bit accustomed to the game mechanics but still need some guidance. As such, it is expected that you already know the content of the general FAQ.
This advanced FAQ will cover early/mid game content without any major spoiler, but also late game content. The latter is located at the very end of the FAQ and can be easily accessed with CTRL F + LTGM. For those who aren't in chapter 8+ yet, do not read that part unless you don't mind spoilers.

==========
Tips & tricks
==========
* Take a screenshot of every tutorial sequence just in case. They can't be accessed later on, although you can buy items whose descriptions are short reminders of some basic information. Those items are available at informant NPCs found in most cities.
Alternatively, this dropbox link has every tutorial in the game, separated by chapter, so spoiler risks aren't huge, although you might see pictures of events shown later in the same chapter you are in: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pyvnmja50svzhbp/AAAmkuJ5Wc5Uw1zIFgJeQaF-a?dl=0

* Do not kill the lv1 Ardun Calf in Torigoth. You can feed it with the NPC, named Pekka, next to it. Doing so isn't mandatory and isn't part of a questline, but if you feed it to the very end, it will grow into a lvl99 unique monster, perfect for legendary core grinding.

* Indol won't be accessible anymore starting from chapter 8. If you want to clear every quest in the game, you have to clear the quests there prior the end of chapter 7 (the rewards aren't particularly useful). Items from Indol can be obtained by other means later.

* Y button has 2 different functions when you aren't in a menu. If you have your quest objective visible (ZR button), pressing Y will lead you to the details of the quest. If you hid the quest objective, it will activate the auto-run feature.

* Blade affinity charts don't update automatically after you have cleared a node. Be sure to check their affinity charts often to keep their passive and field skills up to date.

* You can navigate in a driver or blade affinity chart with the right stick instead of using the left stick and L/R.

* If you think you are underleveled, you can sleep in an inn. All the experience you got from quests and discovering landmarks is stored there so you can manipulate your party level progression. Note that it is generally fine if your party is within +/- 3 levels range compared to the trash mobs and bosses, but any difference higher than that might be too easy or too hard for you.
Remember that the inn is also the only way to alter the tide level present in certain titans. This is done by selecting the longer rest option.

* Development level is increased by talking to the NPC with a star, completing quests, completing mercenary quests of that zone, buying and selling goods. The fastest way to grind development level is simple: just salvage as much as you can, exchange the items to the trade NPC for money and boosters and buy more cylinders.

If you don't want to salvage in a new continent, you can simply buy as many gold cylinders from an already dev 5 continent and sell them elsewhere. The purchase price of the cylinders in a dev 5 titan is exactly the same as the selling price. So, by repeatedly buying cylinders, warping to the other titan and selling them, you can raise the dev level without salvaging. Note that selling alone isn't as fast as buying, so it isn't exactly instantaneous even with batch of 99 gold cylinders.

Rough table of number of gold cylinders needed to level up dev this way (this is based on having one of the deeds that increases dev point gains, and there are multiple such deeds):
0 -> 1: 2 x 99
1 -> 2: 2 x 99
2 -> 3: 3 x 99
3 -> 4: 5 x 99
4 -> 5: 5 x 99
So, worst case 17 trips to completely level up a continent.

A faster method, if you have some money to blow, is to just buy 99 gold cylinders and sell them back at a loss. Buying then reselling 1 x 99 gold cylinders takes you from dev level 4 to 5 instantly, at a loss of 99K gold.

A popular early game spot for salvaging is #2 Dock, Lower Level in Mor Ardain Empire, which becomes accessible in Chapter 4. The income is pretty good for this part of the game and you can also encounter krabble monsters that have a high chances of dropping common and rare cores.

* Sending blades in mercenary missions isn't just for quests or rewards. You can actually send rare blades in missions to fill their affinity charts. Any node that isn't tied to a Unique Monster, Trust, Special Field Skill requirements (craft etc), Quests or H2H can be fulfilled in a mercenary mission, and that mission doesn't have to be related to that node content (so if a node asks you to kill X mobs in Gormott, it still can be fulfilled with a mercenary mission in Argentum). This isn't guaranteed, but the chances of clearing affinity chart node requirements are usually pretty high and sometimes, the node requirement will be partially completed, which can be completed with another mission.

* Using fast travel will reset every mobs but also every collection points. Collection points nature (Botany, Agronomy etc) isn't random and will remain the same all the time. So, if you need a specific type of items, just find a desired collection point then warp repeatedly to get the desired items.

* You can toggle the tooltip of the icons in battle by simply pressing the left stick.

* Any field skill mechanism you couldn't activate will be registered in the skip travel menu. If you hover the cursor on it, it will indicate the requirements, and they will be in pink if your current party setup fulfil the requirements.

* During the blade special animation, you can move the driver around at full speed so you can reposition yourself. However, this is not possible during a lvl4 special.

* Be careful when you are about to release a generic blade. Some of them have interesting skills such as Orb Mastery (% chance to apply an orb when using a special, and this affects the WHOLE team) and treasure sensor. Also, remember that 4 crowns rarity blade can give an Overdrive Protocol if you have filled their affinity chart completely. If you don't have enough rare blades, it isn't the end of the world and some of them might be as strong or even stronger than rare blades with the right skills.


==========
Combat
==========
Q: Can you explain the terms of this game?
A: Here's a quick rundown on the terminology:
* Driver Arts: Moves you can use that have a "cooldown". Arts depend on the weapon type and characters, but they don't change between blades of the same type with the same character. For instance, Rex will always have Strong Smash, Axe Twist, Power Swipe and Bold Tackle with any Greataxe, regardless of its rarity. Meanwhile, Nia's arts for Greataxe are Brutal Blade, Rhino Assault, Bear Smash and Shadow Slice. Their cooldown isn't time based: they mainly recharge with your auto attacks, but some other effects like pouch item can recharge them in battle.

* Driver combo: Combo based on the following chain of reactions: Break, Topple, Launch, Smash

* Reaction: the name of the debuff associated with driver combo, so Break, Topple, Launch, Smash. Break doesn't do anything by itself, but the target can be afflicted by topple as result. When an enemy is affected by topple, they cannot move nor attack and take 25% more damage. Launch does the same thing than topple, except the enemy is now floating in the air and takes 50% extra damage insead. Smash basically deals a ton of damage if the target is launched, finishing the driver combo. It also makes the enemy drop gold, items but also potions on impact.

* Debuff: any negative effect that is NOT a reaction: shackle driver, shackle blade, stench, blowdown, doom etc

* Blade arts: the buffs blades cast on their driver. For example, Eagle Eye (accuracy up).

* Blade combo: Combo based on specials unleashed by the drivers' blade. This require a specific combination of elements depending of the initiating special. More explanations in the next QA.

* Blade combo finisher: specifically referring to the third special that conclude a blade combo, generating the seal effect, the elemental orb and the extra damage/heal effect. For instance, Fire => Water => Fire will lead to Steam explosion. The combo finisher is thus the lvl3-4 fire special used to finish that combo into steam explosion.

* Elemental Orb: orb affecting an enemy after a blade combo finisher. The orb will always be of the same element of the finisher, which will reduce the damage taken of the same element as long the orb is left there. While it sounds like a huge penalty, you can use the orb to your advantage during chain attacks. You can only apply 1 orb per element, thus a maximum of 8 elemental orbs on a given enemy.

* Fusion combo: any driver art part of a driver combo performed during a blade combo will cause a fusion combo. Simply put, when you use an art that inflicts Break, Topple etc, it will have a longer effect, deal more damage and/or generate more party gauge if it is done when the mob is afflicted by a blade combo (which is shown with a huge splash screen showing the reaction + blade combo status).
Note that a fusion combo can be performed the other way around: if you started a driver combo and you unleash a blade combo while the target is still affected by a reaction, if the special can interact with that reaction, it will be considered as a fusion combo as well.

* Chain attack: special attack that make your party completely invincible and allow your party members to bash the target one after another. Requires full party gauge.

* Elemental burst: Occurs when an orb is destroyed during a chain attack. You cannot select which orb your character will attack unless you have a special battle skill or if you use an attack of the opposite element of an orb (so if you use a fire attack, your character will definitely hit the water orb on the enemy even if there are 7 other orbs on them). Each orb has 3 HP. Any attack on the orb will deal 1 damage, but if the attack is of the opposite element, it will deal 2 damage instead (the orb is destroyed if you have Ord Ender Aux Core equipped). If your party destroyed at least an orb within 1 round of attack, your chain attack will be extended for another round. Note that destroying several orbs within 1 round will only extend the chain attack by 1 round. On the other hand, doing so will fill the burst gauge faster.

* Full Burst: Special finisher of a Chain Attack. Each elemental burst will fill the burst gauge at the top left of the screen during a chain attack. If that gauge is full, your team will perform an all out attack, dealing massive damage. The modifier for that final attack depends of the number of orbs on the target (can reach up to 8000% modifier with all 8 orbs and bonus effect like burst symbol), so don't worry if your chain attack will fill the gauge before breaking all the orbs: the chain attack finisher will automatically destroy the rest of the orbs and uses them to calculate the final damage modifier.


Q: So, what's the actual flow of the battle?
A: The actual breakthrough of the combat system during a playthrough is as follow:

Early Game (Chapter 1 - 3): Positioning and Cancelling are important as your arts contribute a lot to your damage output (particularly Double Spinning Edge if you use Rex). As such, let your tank takes the aggro, position yourself properly then use your arts after the "third attack" of the auto attack string. Note the quotes as the number of attacks isn't the same for every weapon, but your character performs 3 specific animations one after another. The third animation gives the highest damage modifier for your arts.
Not only your arts deal more damage, but they also fill your special gauge and party gauge faster if you cancel your autos properly. The general rule for cancelling is that you activate an art the moment your character attacks hits the mob. For instance, when Rex stabs the enemy with his third aegis sword auto attack, activate an art before he pulls back his sword. Proper cancel has a visual cue: a blue ring will be visible around your character whenever you cancel properly. So try to get that blue ring every time you use an art! In fact, it is very important for you to learn the timing of your auto attacks and arts so cancelling becomes natural for you at that point of the game as it affects nearly every action you do in combat.
If possible, try to get the chain art affinity passive for your characters around chapter 3.

Specials are used to perform "blade combo": basically, you chain a special with another, as long they follow these rules: Any special => lvl2+ special => lvl3+ special. The second and third special must be part of the elemental chart visible at the top right of the screen.
For example, if you start a blade combo with a fire special, the next one must be a lvl2+ fire or lvl2+ water, so your combo is prolonged. Any other element won't contribute to that combo at all for the second part of the combo. For the finisher, it depends of the element of the second step of the combo: if you used a lvl2+ fire special, the lvl3+ special must be fire or light. If you used a lvl2+ water special, the lvl3+ special must be fire or ice. Once again, any other element won't affect the ongoing combo.
If you started a combo with the wrong element, it is best to wait for the current blade combo effect to expire before performing a new one.

Once you have completed a blade combo, the target will be affected by a "seal" whose effect depends of the element of the blade combo finisher (please refers to the image chart), and it will remain in effect on the target until you inflict another seal on them. The most useful ones are Wind (seal blowdown), Earth (seal shackle driver) and Ice (seal shackle blade). There can only be 1 seal applied, and any full blade combo will overwrite the current seal with its own. Also, an elemental orb will float around the target. You can only put 1 elemental orb per element, for a maximum of 8 orbs on a given target. They will take less damage from that element as long the orb is around, but you can exploit that with a chain attack.

Chain attacks (available at some point in chapter 3) can only be performed when your party gauge is full, by pressing +. Each of your character attacks the target one after another with a special performed by a blade of your choice. If you manage to perform an elemental burst, as in destroying an elemental orb during a round of attack, your characters will have an extra round. If you succeed the QTE at the start of the new round, this will increase the special level by 1 (max lvl3) and refresh a bit the cooldown of the blades you've just used (depending of the blades cooldown, it is possible to use the same one for several/every rounds of the chain attack, but generally, you have to swap blades most of the time).

Note that since the gauge is fully depleted after a chain attack, be careful with the timing of the chain attack: while your party is completely invulnerable during the chain attack, they aren't automatically healed (any specials during the chain attack with a healing attribute will heal your party just as usual). So, if you miscalculated, you might be for a world of hurt after the chain attack.

Mid Game (Chapter 4 - 6): Now that you have Topple on Rex, performing the driver combo chain should be easier to achieve. As explained in the general FAQ, the goal is to perform the full driver combo chain "Break => Topple => Launch => Smash" for maximum damage while disabling the mob as much as you can. Inflicting any of the driver combo reaction to a mob who is under the effect of a blade combo will lead to a Fusion Combo (the huge splash screen with the blade combo and reaction), which gives a damage bonus, extra party meter and sometimes prolong both the reaction timer and the blade combo status.
You can rely on Byakko/Dromarch for the break status. Rex's anchor shot takes care of the topple reaction. You will need another blade for launch (for Rex, it is the greataxe category). Then Suzaku/Roc can be used for smash.

Meanwhile, you should be able to perform more specials now that you have 3 blades per driver in combat. Just like the arts, specials can cancel an auto or an art, which will increase the damage but also gives more party meter. In general, absolutely every offensive action and blade switch can be cancelled, except Specials and Fusion combo (with the exception of Fusion combo with Anchor Shot). Note that blade switching also fills the special meter and provides a damage modifier if you cancel an auto or an art, and the switch itself can be cancelled too with an art or special. Blade switching is something you should do often as your arts are ready when you switch to a blade, while the special gauge is shared with your blades. As result, blade switching allows you to build your special gauge way faster than staying with a single blade. However, note that blade switching will impose a cooldown on the blade you switch from, so if you need that blade for a blade combo, be sure not to switch too late during a blade combo so it has the time to fully recover on time.

If you didn't unlock it yet, try to get the art chain passive in the driver affinity chart ASAP. This is the most important passive in the game for every character as it allows you to chain your arts one after another. Not only you can deal some massive damage in rapid succession, but your arts will benefit from the previous art cancel modifier (if your first art cancelled the third auto attack, all your arts following that one will benefit from it). Note that the AI also cancel their autos and arts properly, although very rarely at the third auto attack. So, any cancelling bonus accessories or passives are still useful for them. Thanks to that passive, it is now possible to chain absolutely every art of all of your blades in a single combo string. Auto attack 3 => Art 1 => Art 2 => Art 3 => Blade Switch => Art 1 => Art 2 => Art 3 => Blade Switch => Art 1 => Art 2 => Art 3 => Special. Blade switch cancel might be a bit hard at first, but it is really simple: use an art the moment the new blade has materialized. You should see the usual blue ring.

Late Game: At this point of the game, the usual plan is to stack as many elemental orbs as possible and demolish bosses with a huge chain attack. The idea of putting as many orbs as possible is to increase your chances to perform a full burst attack.
This happens if you manage to break 5 orbs in total (4 if you manages to break several orbs within a single round, with the help of certain skills like Orb Ender): each elemental burst will fill the burst gauge at the top left of the screen. Once it is full, everyone will use all of their arts against the target with a huge modifier that depends of the number of orbs you had, which is why you want to stack as many orbs as possible (with 8 orbs, you can easily reach up to 8000% damage modifier). The character who destroyed the last orb for the full burst will perform their lvl4 special which will be also affected by the full burst modifier. If you do well, your chain attack can deal 9.999.999 damage or even more (any instance of damage is capped at 999.999, but the chain attack counter is capped at 9.999.999 so depending of your composition, it is possible to deal way more than 10M).
Generally speaking, your objective against superbosses is to grind their first half of their HP gauge while applying orbs on them then destroy the bosses with a full chain attack.


Q: What's the elemental weakness for a given element?
A: Fire <=> Water, Wind <=> Ice, Electric <=> Earth, Light <=> Dark.


Q: The early part of the game is slow. What can I do about the arts cooldown?
A: Improving your arts will increase their damage but also their effects and reduce their cooldown at some point. You can also use pouch items to have a passive recharge on your arts (and various other effects depending of the pouch items). Generally speaking, pouch items from the desserts category offer the art recharge bonus.
Alternatively, you can abuse the "stutter step": slightly move your character after your auto attack connects. Your character will start their first attack faster than if you were to wait the full animation of their attack.


Q: How do you activate a lvl4 special?
A: The affinity (not trust) between the driver and the blade must be maxed. This is visible with the ether line between both of them turning to golden. The affinity charge depends of the affinity chart progression of the blade and the blade itself. Once it is maxed and your special gauge is charged at lvl3, remaining close to your blade will charge the gauge automatically to lvl4. Then simply press A. A lvl4 special will count like a lvl3 special for blade combo and the modifiers, but the damage and benefits from a lvl4 are obviously better in general. Note the charge speed varies between blades, which is why Homura/Pyra's lvl4 special charge speed is way faster than Hikari/Mythra's.


Q: How do you revive a teammate? What happens if the character I control is KO?
A: Simply stands next to your fallen teammate and press A. This action requires 1 segment of the party gauge. If your character is KO, the AI will attempt reviving you if you have at least 1 party gauge segment, otherwise you will be teleported to the last landmark you've visited. Note that the AI will never revive anyone except your character, so if a character controlled by the AI is incapacitated, you will have to revive them yourself.


Q: The AI is dumb and stay in a dangerous area (poison swamp etc). What can I do?
A: The AI will not engage mobs as long your character hasn't drawn their weapon. So you can simply lure your target with "down" of the D-pad, move to the desired location, then press A to engage the mob.


Q: When does the AI changes their blade?
A: There are 3 cases where they switch their blade:
-If someone is under 30-40% HP, an AI character with a HLR setup (at least 2+ HLR blades) will switch to a blade with a healing art or potion art.
-If an AI character has an art that can contribute to a driver combo, they will switch to that blade. If there is no ongoing driver combo, they will mostly stick to a blade with a break art.
-During a blade combo, if an AI character has a blade that contributes to the ongoing blade combo, they will switch to that blade even if their special gauge is not enough (you can check the current status of their special gauge with the number of white orbs swirling around their portrait). They also switch to that blade even if that element is the last step of the blade combo while you are still in the first step (they will however give priority to the element of the second step if they have the appropriate blade for it). Note that AI characters cannot perform lvl4 specials.


Q: Why does the AI stick to a specific blade and never change it even when a blade combo is available for them?
A: The AI has a very high priority on the driver combo chain, which will often override their priority for blade combos. This is the case when they have a break art against an enemy with a very high break resistance or break immunity: they will stay with that blade as long the target isn't under break reaction, with the exception of Nia who seems to be fine with her priority queue.
As such, if your AI teammates don't change their blades, remove the break arts of their moveset. On the other hand, Topple/Launch/Smash arts are safe since AI characters will only switch when they can use them, but that also means they might switch during a blade combo if they can contribute to the driver combo even if they are too late because of the animation. This is particularly true with the final party member and their launch moves.


Q: For some reasons, my tank doesn't use their driver combo arts at all. What's going on?
A: This is a very peculiar situation that affects any TNK AI. Basically, if the AI fails to have the aggro, their priority will shift into focusing on getting back the aggro, ignoring everything else. In other words, the AI will focus on spamming the aggro drawing arts whenever they are available. Unfortunately, that means they will ignore everything else as long they don't have the aggro, which explains why a tank that doesn't have the aggro very rarely inflict breaks etc, even if they have 2-3 blades with such arts.
In general, if you intend using a tank in mid game and lategame, you have to put priority on their aggro generation, even if it means you have to decrease their dodge/block proficiency.
Note that when the TNK has the aggro, they will have the aggro arts and evasion arts on high priority, but can contribute to driver combo. But because most evasion arts have a long animation, they might miss the reaction window for their driver combo art, hence why they don't always respond quickly to a given opportunity for a driver combo.


Q: Is there any way to avoid instant kill moves?
A: Performing the following actions will give invincibility frames during the whole animation: lvl4 special, blade combo finisher, chain attack. Certain arts provide invincibility frames during their animation, which is described as "evade enemy attacks". For example, Hana JK/Poppi QT's scattershot.


Q: What is damage spike/ purple damage / why did I mysteriously die when X got below half health?
A: Purple damage numbers come from damage spike, which damages you every time you strike the enemy with anything. Chain attacks bypass damage spike, and many enemies with damage spike only activate the spikes when they enrage, so usually it's an invitation to kill the enemy with a chain attack.
- The Spike Defence aux cores reduce spike damage (up to 100% reduction). For locations, Ctrl+F in the Drops tab of the document below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FyYYaSARbKdzGAWE1WEGORYjvXMamAYPGeXwzNai9kM/edit#gid=0

Note that it is called damage spike because there are other types of spike in the game. Another one is evasion spike that grants an evasion buff for the user. The lvl120 superboss has that nasty stuff at its disposal for instance.


Q: What is Reflect damage?
A: Unlike damage spike, the user won't take any damage and those attacking the user will take damage proportional to the attack that would have hit the user. Suffice to say, this is quite dangerous if you are at the receiving end of that kind of move. You can avoid that by simplying running around so your character doesn't auto attack the target. The AI won't stop attacking but you can force them to do so by disengaging the combat during the reflect animation (Hold R then press B). Note that if you do that, this will deplete all of your arts so you will have to recharge them with auto attacks when you re-engage the target with A.
Alternatively, there is an Aux Core that nullify reflect effect, but of course, this will only work if the driver has that blade active.


Q: What is Guard Annul?
A: It means the attacks cannot be deflected and their damage won't be mitigated by any block effect (the usual dome shield generated by blades but also enemies with hard shell/coating/armor). So your attack will connect as if the enemy didn't block it at all. Note that this is a property and not a buff, as such, if a certain skill give guard annul to a special, only that special will benefit from that, but the driver won't.
Please note Auto-Balancer accessory only prevents deflection due to guard. It will not prevent the damage reduction, compared to guard annul.


Q: What's the difference between Shackle Driver and Shackle Blade?
A: Those debuffs basically affect either the driver or blade this way:
-Shackle Driver: The driver cannot perform auto attacks, arts, nor special and blade switch as they cannot give their weapons to their blade (Block, blade arts and affinity bonus still apply)
-Shackle Blade: The blade cannot perform blade arts, specials, and you cannot blade switch. Also, affinity effect is nullified and the affinity between the driver and the blade doesn't increase under that debuff.

Suffice to say, Shackle Driver is one of the most dangerous debuffs in the game.


Q: How do I get SP / WP?
A: You get 300 SP per level up and some from sidequests. You get a small amount of WP from killing enemies and by using WP boosting items from completing blade's affinity charts.
-If a rare blade affinity chart is maxed, you get 2 Intermediate weaponry and 1 Ultimate weaponry. The first one raises WP by 3000, the other one by 5000.
-If a generic blade affinity chart is maxed, you get 3 Weaponry for Noobs. It raises WP by 1000.


Q: What's the benefit of S2-9/S+ rank for trust?
A: Trust past S rank will give a permanent bonus to the auto attack stats and the affinity charge speed in combat. The ranks go from S, to S2-9, then S+. S+ Rank is particularly powerful and gives way more stats than any other Sx rank: For instance, Hana JD/Poppi QTpi gains 47-48 auto attack stats per additional rank after S rank, but at S+ rank, she gets 142 extra auto attack stats compared to S9, for a total of 567 auto attack stats compared to S rank (with Moon Matter Chip, a S+ Hana JD/Poppi QTpi has a whopping 1699 auto attack stats). This is definitely not meant to be obtainable naturally and should be grinded only if you want to min/max for superbosses.



==========
Quests
==========
Q: How many quests are there?
A: There is a grand total of 125 quest entries in the game, and 15 additional quests with the Expansion Pass. Some of them are follow-up quests or steps of other quests, but they are registered as their own entry in the questlog.


Q: The Quest markers aren't visible. Is my quest bugged?
A: It is very likely you missed a requirement, so you should check the questlog. The questlog details not only show what you have to do, but also the required characters AND the time frame. So, if quest markers don't appear, be sure you have everyone in your party (blades must be engaged too) and that the current time matches the quest requirement. Alternatively, it is possible that certain quests are disabled when there are others active at the same time in the same area. Finally, some quests cannot be completed if you didn't reach chapter 8.

Note that for some reasons, the NPC you have to rescue during Guren/Godfrey's questline in Tantal won't have any quest markers on the map. You gotta find them based on their name and frightened pose.


Q: Uncover the Truth / Salvage King / Nopon Doubloons / Bana's Secret Treasure quests?
A: This spreadsheet has guides for these quests and some others, beware of possible spoilers though:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HKkPoCbW0oO1JzV-hx21ueZMIjmWdboVh3vgSrlEwj4/edit


Q: What's the point of giving more money to Max in Argentum?
A: If you send an additional 90K gold, Max will no longer accept money and it will unlock a subquest at Fonsett village in Leftheria.


Q: How do you get Hana JD/Poppi QTpi?
A: Her final form is available only after Chapter 8. First, go to Leftheria for a H2H scene. Then go back to Tora's house and speak with his father. This will start a questline. Once you are done, Hana/Poppi's third form is unlocked.




==========
Misc.
==========
Q: How do I get more pouch slots?
A: There are 6 pouch expansion items in the game, 2 are given from the main story. For the other 4:
1) Near Boulderbore Gate in Gormott Province Upper Level, inside a cave
2) Leftherian Archipelago -> Fonsett Waters -> Godsford Isle teleport (if you don't have it, it's the out of the way high up island to the NE of the map), immediately turn around and walk until you reach to the edge and land on the moving platform.  Stand on the moving platform and get off at the _second_ island with a chest, the first you pass just has a collection point.
3) Spirit Crucible Elpys -> Lower Level -> Southmost point of the map -> Behind a crest-marked wall under a staircase
4) Accessible only after clearing "We Meet Again" Sidequest. Fast Travel to Kedeigh Gate and head east to the Smuide Factory, climb up the first ladder and then take the farther ladder up. Take the tram ride and drop down to where the deer monsters are. You have to kill the UM and go to the ledge. (You can see two indented lines on the L3 map)
https://i.imgur.com/0PTn8rj.png


Q: What are Premium cylinders and how to get them?
A: Premium cylinders are the best cylinders of the game, giving you a nearly guaranteed chance to get white chests during your salvage sessions. They initially are a reward for raising your salvage level. To check your salvage level and get the reward, talk to the Nopon Mochichi on a balcony on an upper level of the central exchange in Argentum.
You can buy premium cylinders in a cylinder shop, but they are only available starting from chapter 7. After that, each time you sleep in an inn, there is a 1/16 chance that premium cylinders will be available in the cylinder shop of every continent, regardless if it is a short or long rest. They will remain available as long you don't go to an inn again, otherwise, you will have to sleep in an inn again with the 1/16 chance until the cylinders show up again.


Q: Any list of field skill requirements in general?
A: Here is a non exhaustive list of what you might need at most for the late game and some quests:
-Ancient Wisdom: 5
-Botany: 10
-Dark Mastery: 9
-Earth Mastery: 7
-Electric Mastery: 9
-Fire Mastery: 12
-Focus: 8
-Fortitude: 6
-Ice Mastery: 5
-Keen Eye: 6
-Leaping: 5
-Lockpicking: 5
-Mineralogy: 7
-Nopon Wisdom: 5
-Salvage Mastery: 12
-Superstrength: 10
-Water Mastery: 5
-Wind Mastery: 7


Q: Any tips for rare core farming (early game)?
A: At #2 dock in Mor Ardain, use normal cylinders, fail the QTEs, and have no salvaging mastery skill equipped. This will increase your chances of spawning krabbles, and they always drop at least a common core. Multiple treasure sensor skills (from generic blades or Shiki/Adenine) increase the odds that a krabble will drop a rare core. If you smash the krabble, it will drop a common core and often drop a rare core. So, it is possible to get 2 rare cores and 2 common cores per krabble, and sometimes 3 krabbles spawn.

With consistent smashing and enough treasure sensor on, you should be able to get at least 80 rare cores during one stack of 99 normal cylinders.

Q: Any Tips for legendary core farming (Mid-Late game)?
A: If you are around ~lvl 70, the fastest way to get legendary cores is to smash the lvl 130 superboss in Temperantia. Despite being the highest level enemy in the game, it is easy to run in, smash, grab legendary cores, run out, and repeat, even at ~lvl 70. You'll also get some ridiculously good loot, as you would expect from the highest level monster in the game.

Tips for smashing:
- Hana JD/Poppi QTpi's break move has 3 chances to break, making it the best break move in the game.
- Beta Scope accessory increases break chance. Highly recommended.
- If you are missing, you aren't breaking - use glove accessories that increase your dex to hit more often.
- For the lvl 130 superboss, target a dexterity of ~330.
- "Gold chip" weapon chips give a +50% to item drop rate, and this stacks with treasure sensor tiers on your blades. Gold chips are easily farmed by smashing Vampire Bride Marion, see below.

If the level 130 superboss isn't working for you, try instead:
- Smashing Vampire Bride Marion, a lvl 65 unique monster in Uraya's stomach, gives a fairly good drop rate for legendary cores.
- Smashing the lvl99 Ardun in Torigoth, which is the very reason why you shouldn't kill the calf before feeding it completely.
- Smashing the lvl 50 krabbles located in a specific location available in chapter 9.


Q: Is there a chip that restore the original weapon design of the rare blade?
A: Yes, it is the Tachyon Chip dropped by the Lv130 superboss. Note that chip doesn't restore the design of the story blades such as Byakko/Dromarch (you need Gold or Silver Chip for that). However, Rare blades obtained from special cores with the story such as Suzaku/Roc and subquests such as Mikumari/Praxis still get their original design back with that chip.



*****Next Section is for the late game (Spoilers from chapter 8+). You've been warned*****





























==========
Late Game LTGM
==========
Q: Does Nia gain experience when she is in her blade form?
A: Yes she does, in the form of bonus experience, so just go to an inn to make her catch up the team. However, note that she doesn't gain any SP or WP in her blade form.


Q: How do you perform the lvl4 trio specials with Homura/Pyra and Nia?
A: Both blades affinity must be maxed, then just charge the special gauge to lvl4.
For "Union Sword", note that if you have Hikari/Mythra as the active blade, it won't work and it will unleash the usual Sacred Arrow. You must switch to Homura/Pyra so you can unleash Union Sword.
For "Nexus Force", it doesn't matter. So even if the benched Aegis girl is Hikari/Mythra, unleashing the lvl4 special with Nia will still call out Homura/Pyra for Nexus Force.


Q: At chapter 8, the game asks you how you should call the fusion form of Homura/Pyra and Hikari/Mythra. What's the actual impact of this choice?
A: Every character will call that form with the name you've chosen (commonly called Pneuma by the playerbase for story reasons, officially called Awakened Homura/Pyra in the game and official guide). Also, her base pose will slightly differ too: if you chose Homura/Pyra, her arms will rest straight around her body, but if you chose Hikari/Mythra, she will rest one of her hands on her hip. Her voice lines are supposed to reflect both girls, so they aren't affected by your choice.
However, the very end of the game will change a bit depending of your choice. Either you choose according to your preferences or you select the girl that Rex would have in mind.
Note that the cutscenes in the events theatre can be played with any choice, so it isn't locked by the choice you've made in your save state.


Q: So how do you use Awakened Homura/Pyra? What are the actual benefits?
A: Awakened Homura/Pyra form can only be activated if your affinity with the aegis girls is maxed, and if your party gauge is maxed. Hold R then press X to transform the current aegis girl into Awakened Homura/Pyra. The transformation doesn't use any segment of the party gauge.

Upon activation, Rex is fully healed, his special gauge is immediately set to Lv3, but he also takes the aggro of every enemies that have been engaged by your party for the whole duration of that mode (That form provides 60% Physical defense and 60% Ether defense, so fear not, Rex is capable of tanking during that mode). Awakened Homura/Pyra is also at maximum affinity with Rex right from the start, but moving out of her range for too long CAN reset the affinity level to 0.

During that mode, the following features are possible:
-You can select the element of Awakened Homura/Pyra's special according to the current elemental path of the current blade combo or select any of the 8 element if no blade combo is in effect (you can activate that mode for AI Rex, but you cannot select his element for him).
-Rex cannot use any blade except her. During chain attacks, she will attack every orb at once, but it will always deal 1 damage. Therefore, if there is at least 4 orbs and 3 characters in your party, you will always perform a full burst as long you destroyed at least 1 orb during the first round. During a chain attack, her timer is frozen, so don't worry about the remaining time left if you started a chain attack too early in this mode.

During that mode, the following effects are applied to Rex and that form:
-Rex cannot blade switch
-All damage dealt by Rex and Awakened Homura/Pyra form will ignore elemental resistance provided by elemental orbs.
-Her base element is displayed as Light even if it was Homura/Pyra before the transformation. However, Rex's attacks will always deal effective damage against any enemy.
-Rex gains a counter spike: whenever an enemy attacks him, he strikes back with effective element damage
-When that form blocks an attack (light dome shield animation), Rex will counter attack too
-Rex will not die the first time he takes lethal damage: his HP will remain at 1 and he will be healed once. However, any other instance of lethal damage after that will kill him.
-Rex is immune to debuffs and reactions
-All of her specials ignore defense of the enemies. Lvl1-2-3 have 60% chance of having guard annul, while lvl4 always has guard annul.
-Awakened Homura/Pyra lvl4 special is exclusive to NG+

During that mode, the following effects are applied to your whole party:
-Every attacks are critical hits
-Enemy break resistance is reduced by 50%
-Evasion and Accuracy are increased by 50%
-Double chances of item drops

Note that you can only activate this mode once per fight, so think twice before activating it.
The remaining time left is displayed by her blade icon on the left: it will progressively turn dark as it is about to expire. Its exact duration is 1 minute.


Q: What are the actual changes for the post game?
A: Starting from chapter 10, several mobs at higher level show up, notably the Old Factory in Mor Ardain and the Olethro Ruins in Uraya. Some superbosseses like Cloud Sea King Ken appears as well. Otherwise, it is all about the remaining sidequests, affinity charts and landmarks/secret areas.


Q: Is there any NG+ feature?
A: Yes. The game tell you what you actually keep with NG+ before proceeding, but here is the general list:
-Drivers' levels
-Equipment and progression of Drivers and Blades (as in arts, affinity charts and so on)
-Bonded Blades
-Gold and Items (some special items like Nanakoori/Ursula's stamps are not carried over though)
-Development levels and Mercenary rank
-Event theater unlocked cutscenes
-Unique Monster death status
-Play Time

The NG+ also offer the following extra features:
-Bonding with Torna blades, except Shin/Jin and Metsu/Malos (note that Satahiko/Mikhail cannot be obtained with cores. You must find him in Alrest)
-All blades can be discpatched for Mercenary missions, notably story blades like Homura/Pyra. Note they will automatically come back from missions if they are required for the story.
-A new driver affinity chart (The true power of Zeke's eye is one perk of his new chart)
-Downgrading your characters levels, converting these into bonus EXP
-Exchange items with Bonus EXP. The NPC are bards located in major cities inns (Extra Accessory slot in Argentum, Ether crystals in Torigoth, Legendary Cores in Fonsa Myma, Weapon manuals in Mord Ardain and Overdrive Protocol in Tantal)
-Lvl4 special for Awakened Homura/Pyra
-A new title screen if you finish NG+

However, there are several restrictions for NG+:
-Quests, H2H, warping points and Mercenary mission completed status will be reset
-Suzaku/Roc, Wadatsumi/Aegaeon and the Wind Knuckle blade you get from the beginning aren't available from the start. They are obtained only as per story progression.
-NG+ save data will overwrite your cleared save state. Do not proceed with that feature if you want to progress further in your initial save state.


Q: I'm done with the final boss, but for some reason, some quests and/or H2H are still locked, but I have the characters in my party. Any idea?
A: Be sure that the required blades are equipped to their original drivers. Equipping them on Rex won't count, as most of these quests and H2H have the blade(s) interacting with their driver, so it wouldn't work well if they are engaged on Rex instead.


Q: What are the superbosses?
A: Note that some of them are only accessible after reaching chapter 10:
-Lv100 Gladiator Orion (Hallowed Godswood Shrine, next to Way of the Practitioner in Lower Level of Cliffs of Morytha)
-Lv104 Reeking Douglas (Brigands' Hideout, next to Boulderbore Gate in the Upper Level - Right of Gormott)
-Lv109 Pernicious Benf (Aegishammer, next to Ancient Wall in the Central Plain of Temperantia)
-Lv110 Cloud Sea King Ken (Central Ether Boulder, in the lower level of Tantal. Note that you must trigger the fog weather to make him appear for the first kill. His tombstone is located to the west, closer to Great Pillar Passage, and it doesn't require the weather for a rematch)
-Lv114 Mk. VII Arek (Lv.4, Megrez, next to Megrez Gateway in the Upper Level of the World Tree)
-Lv117 Artifice Ophion (Gotrock Oracle Ruins, next to Jubilee Gate in the Lower Level of Cliffs of Morytha)
-Lv120 Chickenheart Dagmara (On a bridge, next to Main Ventilation Duct in the Old Factory of Mor Ardain)
-Lv130 Tyrannotitan Kurodil (Profaned Place, in the Central Plain of Temperantia)


Q: What are the best blades for X role?
A: Ignoring Hana/Poppi considering they vastly depend on your Tiger Tiger farming:
ATK (physical): Hikari/Mythra - Homura/Pyra, Yaegiri/Zenobia, Jikarao/Wulfric, T-elos:Re (Obtainable only if you have finished the game. Not NG+ exclusive) also the 2 special blades obtained in the Challenge Mode.
ATK (ether): KOS-MOS, Rinne/Sheba, Teni/Herald
Damage Support: Shiki/Adenine, Kubira/Dagas (when his second affinity chart is unlocked)
TNK (agility): Kagutsuchi/Brighid, Seori/Theory, Wadatsumi/Aegaeon, Ibuki/Finch
TNK (HP): Kasane/Kasandra, Raikou/Electra, Nyuutsu/Newt
HLR: Nia, Hotaru/Floren, Nanakoori/Ursula, Idaten/Boreas

Most rare blades are pretty good except duds like Guren/Godfrey. Remember that generic blades can outspec rare blades depending of their stats modifier, blade arts and battle skills.


Q: What are the best Chips?
A: Depends of the role (raw stats gain depends on the weapon type hence no absolute value here):
-Moon Matter Chip obtained from Cloud Sea King Ken: Best crit atk chip
-Tachyon Chip obtained from Tyrannotitan Kurodil: Higher raw than Moon Matter with less crit, but with original skins for rare blades (not story) and special effect based on the weapon type
-Preon Chip obtained from Chickenheart Dagmara: Highest raw but less crit than Moon Matter and Tachyon, less block compared to Tachyon and no special effect
-Dilaton Chip obtained from the chest in the locked Bulkhead (contains 10 chips, cores, money etc) in the world tree, accessible after defeating Artifice Ophion (warning: the chest doesn't respawn and Ophion doesn't drop anything after the first kill, so you only have 10 Dilaton Chips per playthrough): Best block chip with high auto attack stats. With Block Up V part and that chip, Hana JS/Poppi Alpha has 93% chances of block.
***Important note*** as of Patch 1.3.0, passive bonus granted by core chips (raw stats, +50% drop rate etc) do not affect your characters anymore if the blade equipped with that core chip isn't active in battle (So if a character has all 3 equipped blades with Pentagon chip, they will gain +50 agility, not 150). As such, stacking agility or drop chips on certain characters is pointless.
As of Patch 1.4.0, the aforentioned issue was confirmed to be a bug. It has been corrected. That bug fix also confirms non battle stats passive such as treasure sensor do stack with non active engaged blades equipped with that kind of chip.


Q: What's the usual accessories/Aux cores setup for late game?
A: There are plenty good accessories for attackers, so make your choice (note this list isn't exhaustive and doesn't have the items found in the challenge mode):
-Avant Garde Medal: Heals 22% of damage dealt after a critical hit
Primary accessory for the crit heal build. Your character must have at least 30-40% crit to exploit that accessory properly (get a Moon Matter Chip on Cloud Sea King Ken for dmg/crit chip). With a proper setup, you don't need a tank or a healer.

-High-Tech Eye Patch: 54% extra damage after cancelling
Note that item has been mistranslated: it is after any cancel, not just after cancelling an auto attack Particularly potent since the damage bonus is another modifier so some extra damage magnifier, it isn't additive to the rest.

-Nano-Metal Gauntlet: 44% extra recharge for special after cancelling
Helps a lot if you want to do a lot of blade combo, be it your controlled character or the AI character.

-Hero Vambraces: 52% extra damage against higher level enemies
Decent bonus modifier against superbosses

-Beta Scope: Reduces enemy Break resist
Quite necessary if you want to start the driver combo against though mobs and superbosses

-Overclock Bangle: Shortens cooldown time relative to the number of arts ready after a blade switch
Basically, if you switch from Blade A to Blade B, Blade A cooldown will be shortened proportionally to the number of Blade A's arts that wasn't used right before the switch. For instance, If you have all 3 arts available before switching, Blade A cooldown will be shortened by 75%. Combined with fast switch aux core, you can just go nuts with blade switching, which works well with blades like Nanakoori/Ursula.

-World Tree Drop: Increases damage dealt by 12% after a blade switch (max 250%)
That accessory is the most potent in term of extra damage but the setup is quite long and you absolutely need Overclock Bangle and/or Fast Blade Switch Aux Cores.

For tanks, Meleph/Morag need +agility and +%agility accessories or attacker accessories for her aggro. Alternatively, Gold Nopon Mask is the best aggro accessory for her. Tora should be fine with ATK accessories if you keep him as a tank. Both benefit a lot from Beta Scope (Tora would need Hada JD/Poppi QTPi for this though, as the other Hana/Poppi don't have a break move).
Dexterity accessories are also useful so they don't miss their arts so less chance for aggro issues.

For healers, Nia or anyone build for pure heal need +Ether and +% Ether accessories. High ether stats is enough for good heal, whereas +% healing art and +% potion effects are too restricted to one thing, which is detrimental to offensive ether arts. You can also give them +% HP accessory to avoid premature deaths if you think they take too much collateral damage. Aggro reduction accessory isn't necessary as generally speaking, it is your attackers that will steal the aggro from your tank.

As for Aux Cores:
-ATK: Affinity MAX ATK V, HP ATK V, Critical Up V, Fast Blade Switch V/VI, Arts Stealth V, Telepathy V
-TNK: Affinity MAX Evade V, Evasion Focus V, Block Rate Up V, Ultimate Shield, Aggro Attack Up V, Arts Aggro Boost V, Aggro Boost V, Telepathy V
-HLR: Affinity MAX Barrier V, Block Rate Up V, Ultimate Shield, Jamming V, Arts Stealth V, Telepathy V