Driver Art

Driver Arts (called Vanguard Arts in Torna ~ The Golden Country) are a kind of attack in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. They can be used by pressing X, Y, or B in combat. Party members controlled by AI will perform Driver Arts automatically.

Overview
In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, each active Driver has three Driver Arts available to them at once; which ones are available depends upon the weapon class of the currently active Blade. In Torna ~ The Golden Country, each party member has a unique set of three Vanguard Arts; the ones currently available are those of the character in the Vanguard.

In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, each weapon class corresponds to a set of four Driver Arts for each Driver. However, only three per weapon class per Driver may be used in any particular battle. Which three are available in battle, as well as which Driver Art corresponds to pressing X/Y/B, can be changed in the menu. In Torna ~ The Golden Country, each character only has three Vanguard Arts, although their button correspondence may still be changed in the menu.

In battle, Driver Arts are indicated in the lower right section of the screen. They are represented by the top, left, and bottom diamond (the right one represents s).

Most Driver Arts deal (either to a single target or in an area of effect); in general, they deal more damage than s but less than s and Blade Combos. Other Driver Arts directly heal other party members or block incoming damage. Using a Driver Art increases the Special gauge (by varying amounts - see cancelling for details).

Effects
Certain Driver Arts have additional effects beyond dealing damage. For example, some increase or reduce the amount of on the current Driver, some inflict specific s, some spawn HP potions, some cause all incoming attacks during the move's animation to miss, etc.

One of the most important effects of Driver Arts is inflicting stages of a Driver Combo. Certain Driver Arts inflict one of, , , or on an enemy. (In the latter three cases, the reaction will only be inflicted if the enemy was already suffering from the previous stage of the Driver Combo.) With the exception of Heavenly Disrupt, Driver Arts will only inflict one of these reactions. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, each Weapon class on each Driver has either zero or one Driver Art which inflicts a Driver Combo stage (except for the Variable Saber on, which has two). The Driver Combo can only be inflicted via Driver Arts in this game, making these Arts an integral part of combat. In Torna ~ The Golden Country, each Driver possesses a Vanguard Art which inflicts a Driver Combo stage; Blades do not, although they may still perform Driver Combos via Vanguard Switch.

Conditional effects
Some Driver Arts behave differently when used under certain conditions. The most common example of this is that the Driver Art will deal more if used under the appropriate conditions. The trigger for these effects varies, although the following are common examples:
 * Using the Driver Art from the enemy's front/side/back
 * Using the Driver Art when the character in question has the enemy's
 * Cancelling an or another Driver Art into the Driver Art (see below)

Cooldown
Under normal circumstances, when a Driver Art is used it cannot immediately be used again. By default, Driver Arts are recharged using s; the amount by which a Driver Art is recharged is indicated by a pink line running clockwise around the corresponding diamond icon. When this line fully borders the icon, the Driver Art is recharged and may be used again. The icon of a Driver Art on cooldown is also dimmer than an available one.

Driver Arts can also be recharged using certain Pouch Items (primarily Desserts), which recharge Driver Arts by a fixed amount per second.

Certain Driver Arts have special effects which partially recharge them if their attack is a. (For attacks with multiple hits, the partial recharge activates if any of their hits is a critical hit.) 's also applies this effect to all Driver Arts used when she is the active Blade. At maximum level (see below), these effects typically fully recharge the Driver Art on a critical hit, meaning it can be used again immediately (and even cancelled into itself).

Eye of Shining Justice greatly reduces the cooldown of all of 's Driver Arts. reduces the cooldown of all Driver Arts by a fixed proportion, depending upon how high the count is.

Levels
Driver Arts can be levelled up in the menu using WP, starting from level 1 to a maximum of level 5. Doing so increases their damage and possibly (if applicable) the potency or likelihood of their special effect. Levelling up a Driver Art to level 3 or level 5 also reduces its cooldown.

When a Driver and Blade are at maximum, all Driver Arts effectively go up one level; for example, if 's Anchor Shot is levelled up to level 2 in the menu and he uses it when is active at maximum affinity, the damage, cooldown, and chance of spawning an additional HP potion will be as though the move were levelled up to level 3. If a Driver Art is levelled up to level 5 and used at maximum Affinity, it will use a sixth 'level' of damage/cooldown which cannot be achieved through other means.

Interaction with other gameplay elements
After a Blade Switch/Vanguard Switch, all Driver Arts will be off cooldown. At the start of battle, all Driver Arts are on cooldown by default; however, each Driver has three s which make the Driver Art assigned to X, Y, and B respectively off cooldown at the start of battle. Being incapacitated or using a does not affect the cooldown status of Driver Arts.

Each Driver Art has a maximum range, and it can only be used when the distance between the character and the enemy is below that maximum. Driver Arts cannot be initiated during s or Blade Combo animations, during a animation, or when inflicted with Shackle Driver. They can be initiated at any time during an animation or when moving, including at zero  or when inflicted with Shackle Blade. A Driver Art cannot be initiated during another Driver Art unless the Arts Chain (or equivalent on other Drivers) has been acquired, and then only in the cancel window (see below). Movement is not possible during a Driver Art's animation.

Auto-attacking cannot be done during a Driver Art's animation. However, Specials may be initiated; doing so nullifies the rest of the Driver Art.

In a Full Burst, each Driver uses one Driver Art in addition to various Specials. (This cannot inflict a stage of the Driver Combo.)

Cancelling
Initiating a Driver Art during the cancel window of an (typically during the freeze frames of the last hit associated with the auto-attack in question) will cancel the auto-attack in a special way: the Driver Art's damage will be increased, the Special gauge will increase more than normal, and the  will slightly increase. A blue ring briefly appears to indicate a successful animation cancel.

Using a Driver Art without cancelling results in the Special gauge being built up 1/4 of the way to the next level. Cancelling the first auto-attack in the cycle into a Driver Art results in the Special gauge being built up 3/8 of the way; cancelling the second auto-attack builds the gauge 1/2 of the way; cancelling the third builds it 5/8 of the way.

If the active character has the Arts Chain or equivalent, it is possible to cancel Driver Arts into Driver Arts. The window for cancelling a Driver Art typically consists of the freeze frames of the last hit of the attack. Cancelling a Driver Art into another Driver Art has the same effect as cancelling the second auto-attack in a cycle, building up the Special gauge 1/2 of the way to the next level. (With or without Arts Chain, activating a during the cancel window of a Driver Art results in a slight boost to the Party gauge.)

Strategy
Using standard strategies, shortly after the start of the game, the damage dealt by Driver Arts becomes less important than that dealt by other sources. Therefore, the purpose of using them generally consists of building the Special gauge as quickly as possible and executing Driver Combos.