Combat (XC1)

For other articles titled "Combat", see Combat (disambiguation).

Combat or battle is a central gameplay mechanic in the first Xenoblade Chronicles. The game uses a real-time battle system which takes place in the overworld.

Combat is initiated when the player selects the red "Attack" button to initiate a battle, uses an Battle Art to deal damage to a targeted enemy, an enemy is alerted to the player and is hostile, or when a story or quest initiates a battle. It ends if all enemies have their HP brought to 0, all party members leave all enemies' range, if specific enemies use certain combat-ending attacks, if all party members are incapacitated, or if the player-controlled character is incapacitated and the Party Gauge is less than 1 bar full. In the former three cases, the combat ends in a victory for the party and the game enters the regular out-of-combat state. In the latter cases, the combat ends in a loss for the party, and they are sent to the most recently-visited landmark.

Setup

Party composition

The player controls a singular party member at a time. Up to 2 other party members can be active, bringing the maximum up to 3 party members. Party members not controlled by the player are usually controlled by AI, but in rare cases (like warning a party member of a Vision or using a Chain Attack), the player will be able to use the other party member's Art palette for an attack.

Equipment

Weapon

Main article: Weapon (XC1)

Each character has a single weapon they can equip, unique to their character.

In the beginning of the game, only the Monado can damage Mechon with physical attacks. However, later, anti-Mechon weapons are made available to all characters.

Equipment

Main article: Equipment (XC1)

Equipment is the clothing and armour which primarily increases the user's physical and ether defences, and often provides additional benefits to a player's stats. Each character can equip armour for the head, torso, arms, legs, and feet.

Equipment also changes a character's appearance. In the Definitive Edition, the player can override the appearance of the armour they have equipped by scrolling down to the "Appearance" section and setting it there.

Gems

Main article: Gem (XC1)

Gems are additional pieces of equipment which can be added to other equipment in order to improve the character's stats or add additional effects. Specific gems can be added to weapons, while other gems can be applied only to armour. The weapon typically can have up to three slots for gems, and armour pieces can typically have up to one. Certain gems, labeled as "U", are already built into the weapon, and cannot be removed or replaced.

Actions

Movement

During combat, the player can move around the enemy while performing auto-attacks, providing multiple benefits. Attacking behind or to the side of an enemy may give extra bonuses depending on the attack (e.g. Slit Edge lowers enemy physical defence when used on an enemy's side). Also, proper positioning will prevent the enemy from hitting area-of-effect attacks.

The player cannot swim and fight at the same time, so it's useful to move away from water while fighting.

Auto-attacks

Main article: Auto-attack (XC1)

Auto-attacks are the simplest, and often the weakest, form of attack. They are automatically performed by characters who are not performing Battle Arts. The Haste buff will make auto-attacks faster, while the Slow debuff will make those attacks slower. For most characters, the Talent Gauge is filled when auto-attacks hit.

Battle Arts

Main article: Battle Art (XC1)

Each character has a selection of Battle Arts, which are learned as characters level up. Arts are the main player-controlled action during combat: they are selectable abilities that result in an effect that benefits the player during battle, either by dealing large amounts of damage, supporting party members, or hindering enemies. When an Art is used, it has a cooldown that refills over time before the Art can be used again.

There are 8 categories of Arts in Xenoblade Chronicles.

• Red: Arts that deal physical damage.
• Purple: Arts that deal ether damage or apply statuses.
• Pink: Arts that can inflict Break.
• Green: Arts that can inflict Topple.
• Yellow: Arts that can inflict Daze.
• Blue: Arts that buff or heal the user and/or their allies.
• Orange: Arts that grant an aura to the user for a period of time.
• Talent (black): The Talent Arts, which do something unique depending on the user.

Talent Arts

Main article: Talent Art (XC1)

Talent Arts are unique to the character using them. They are located in the centre of the Arts palette. For example, Shulk's Activate Monado allows him to use a set of Monado Arts to deal high damage or protect his team.

For most characters, Talent Arts cool down only when auto-attacks are performed and can only be used once fully cooled down. However, Sharla's Cool Off charges when arts are performed and can be used even when partially filled. Melia's Elemental Discharge can always be used as long as she has summoned elementals, and its filling is meant to indicate when she has activated the aura Element Burst, which powers up her elemental attacks.

Using a Talent Art during a Chain Attack allows the multiplier to combo into other Art colour categories.

Chain Attack

Main article: Chain Attack (XC1)

When the Party Gauge is full, the player can press up on the D-Pad to switch the talent art button for a Chain Attack button.

Chain attacks consume the entire Party Gauge and give each of the party members an opportunity each to perform at least one Battle Art. Time stops during the Chain Attack, meaning that players have all the time in the world to make their decision. If their Talent Art is ready they can use that as well.

Additionally, enemy resistance to Break is bypassed, meaning that this is often helpful to Topple enemies that aren't broken easily.

Using Arts of the same category (with Talent Arts being a wild card allowing a chain to/from any colour) will increase the chain multiplier, adding a multiplier to the damage dealt. The multiplier maxes out at 5 consecutive arts, increasing the damage dealt by 700%.

After all party members in the chain finish their first attack, a Chain Link may happen. When this happens, an affinity action appears. If it succeeds, the party continues attacking. The Chain Link is more likely to occur if the party members' affinity and tension are all high.

Tension

Main article: Tension (XC1)

Tension measures the morale of each party member. It is indicated by the character expression in their portrait during combat. When it is high, crit rates and the chance of a chain link during a Chain Attack will increase. However, when it is low, these rates decrease instead and the chance they will hit an attack is reduced as well.

If party members are at low tension, approaching them and Encouraging them will return their tension to normal.

Affinity

Main article: Affinity (XC1)

Affinity is a measure of how often two party members have worked together. High affinity between party members will increase the chance of Chain Links.

Affinity Actions are indicated by a shrinking red circle (white in the Definitive Edition) shrinking onto a light blue circle. When B is pressed at the right time, the party's tension rises. There are various Affinity Actions that will improve the party's tension and improve the party members' affinities.

• Battle Start Affinity: When selecting "Attack" to initiate a battle, an Affinity Action happens. When it succeeds, the entire party's tension rises.
• Burst Affinity: When a character scores a critical hit or misses an attack, the player may get an Affinity Action. When it succeeds, that character's tension and affinity rise and the Party Gauge increases.

Visions

Main article: Vision (XC1)

After a certain point in the story, the player will start to receive visions. These usually happen when the enemy is preparing a high-damage attack that will deal heavy damage, inflict a dangerous debuff, or incapacitate them.

When a vision is active, the player can perform actions to change what happens. This includes increasing the targeted character's evasion, improving their defences to reduce incoming damage, toppling the enemy, or by simply killing the enemy before the vision can happen. Changing the future by breaking vision tags will increase tension throughout the party.

Additionally, the player can warn another party member of the vision if the party gauge has at least one bar filled. Warning consumes the bar, freezes time during the warning, and allows the player to use the other party member's Arts. All of their Arts will cool down completely, including their Talent Art.

Other in-combat effects and techniques

Evasion

Main article: Hit chance (XC1)

Attacks are not guaranteed to land. Each hit of each attack has a chance of being dodged by the target, inflicting no damage and no additional effects. For most attacks, this depends on the agilities of the attacker and the target: if the two are equal then they both will have a 100% accuracy against each other. However, if the enemy is much higher level than the player, the player's hit rates will be reduced. See Level (XC1)#Level difference for details.

Incapacitation

Main article: Incapacitation (XC1)

When a character's HP is reduced to 0 (typically through enemy attacks), they are incapacitated and cannot act nor be healed. Additionally, other party members will be brought to very low tension (or just low if they were at their max before). Other party members can revive them by approaching them, but this costs 1 bar of the Party Gauge.

If there are no bars remaining and the player-controlled character is incapacitated, the player is forced to respawn at the last visited landmark.

Aggro

Main article: Aggro (XC1)

Enemies will face the party member they are trying to attack. A red ring appears around the party member with the most aggro, and yellow pointers appear noting the directions where enemies are coming from. Aggro is gained by doing damage and healing, and is lost when taking damage. It's typically best for aggro to be applied to party members with high HP and defences.

Enemies (and party members) can be forced to attack a specific party member (resp. enemy) via the Lock-On debuff: the target is forced to attack the character who inflicted the debuff.

Buffs

Main article: Buff (XC1)

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Debuffs

Main article: Debuff (XC1)

Stats

Main article: Stat (XC1)

A character's stats are mostly relevant in combat. Stats depend upon the level of a character, and many Gems and Skills modify them.

Interface

Controls

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Strategy

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Gallery

Tutorial

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  The basics of targeting an enemy

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  Displaying the Battle Palette

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  Explaining how to start a battle

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  Explaining how to position for a battle