Overdrive

An example of a character that has activated Overdrive.

This article is about the mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles X. For the Battle Skill in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, see Overdrive (XC2).

Overdrive is a special play ability in Xenoblade Chronicles X that greatly enhances the user's combat abilities for a limited time. It is unlocked after the boss of Chapter 5 is defeated.

It costs 3000 TP to activate an Overdrive, equal to the user's base maximum TP. Activating Overdrive adds a base 15 seconds (25 in the Definitive Edition) to a timer meter on the right side of the Overdrive Counter, which increases with chained orange or yellow arts.

Additionally, Skells get their own version of Overdrive, which costs 3000 GP to activate. These Overdrives increase the chance of Cockpit Time to activate every time a Skell Art is used. Each Overdrive has its own set of additional bonuses as well, depending on the Skell model.

When the player uses Overdrive, the song Wir fliegen plays until the Overdrive is finished.

Plot

After the events of Chapter 5, it's revealed in a tutorial that Overdrive is a new method of attack that was granted by the technology used to create mimeosomes. Little else is known about Overdrive.

Despite the text implying that it was created for mimeosome use, L, Celica, Neilnail and Al - all of whom have organic bodies - can use Overdrive as well.

On Foot Overdrive

When Overdrive starts, a counter will appear in the bottom middle of the screen, showing a counter that increases based on the last Art used. On its right is a meter that indicates the amount of time remaining in the Overdrive (a base 15 seconds in the Wii U version, 25 seconds in the Definitive Edition). When the meter runs low, the song Wir fliegen fades out to the normal battle music in order to let the user know that Overdrive is ending so they can try to extend it if possible.

In the Definitive Edition, once Overdrive starts, the user will also emit a shockwave that deals damage to all enemies currently in combat. This damage is equal to CharacterLv*150 + Potential*50, and subject to boosts and reductions like most other attacks. It should be noted that the shockwave has no attribute, letting it deal consistent damage regardless of an enemy's resistances.

There are three values that appear pointing towards the counter:

• Damage multiplier (×): Indicates the damage multiplier. Starts at 1.00 and increases by 0.05 for each count, maxing out at 6.00.
• Cooldown multiplier (×): Lowers the time it takes for arts to cool down. Starts at 2.50 and increases by 0.025 for each count, maxing out at 5.00.
• Resistance reduction (-): Lowers the enemy's resistance to debuffs. Starts at 0.00 and increases by 1 for each count, maxing out at 100.00.

All Arts will additionally be able to enter a tertiary cooldown which further enhances Arts in various ways. Additionally, secondary and tertiary cooldowns will still continue to cooldown even if the Overdrive user isn't currently using the associated weapon.

Overdrive Counter

Each successful hit from an orange, yellow, or damaging purple Art during Overdrive increases the Overdrive counter. Additionally, green arts that heal players increase the counter as well. This means that attacks that hit a large number of times, and attacks that hit multiple enemies at once, can greatly increase this counter.

However, orange and yellow arts used back-to-back won't increase the counter. Additionally, the damage bonus is negated for the second art. Therefore, green/purple/blue arts should be used first before switching between orange and yellow arts.

The counter usually increases by 1 per hit, but if the user uses a green Art right before using an orange, yellow, or purple art, the counter will increase by 2 per hit.

The counter maxes out at 100, which maximizes all the bonuses of Overdrive.

The counter can be boosted on activation using the Augment Overdrive Count Up. Additionally, Overdrive Blue Bonus allows blue Arts to add 10 to the counter, and Overdrive Green Bonus allows green Arts to add 3 to the counter.

Additionally, the skill Phantom Counter can boost the counter on Overdrive activation as well.

In the original Wii U release, if a Proximity Spike or Reflect Aura was activated before entering Overdrive, or a Blaze or Shock effect was applied onto an enemy with an Art before entering Overdrive or from an auto-attack with an augment while the counter was still blank, damage instances from those effects would increase the Overdrive counter until an art of another art was used.

Color Combinations

Going from one Art color to another Art color can cause extra effects.

Bonus Effects for Art Combinations

Last Art Used	Next Art Used	Effect
Purple	Yellow/Orange	Appendage damage up by 50%
Blue	Green	Restore health by 10% of max
Blue	Purple	Debuff duration extended by 25%
Orange -> Orange	Orange	Increase experience gain from battle by 10%
Yellow -> Yellow	Yellow	Increase Class EXP gain from battle by 10%
Green	Any color	Overdrive counter increases by 2× number of hits

The experience and Class EXP bonuses require three Orange or Yellow Arts to be used in a row respectively.

Party Overdrive Bonuses

When multiple party members are in Overdrive, bonuses happen:

• Every party member that activates Overdrive starts at a count equal to half the current count of the player with the highest count. This stacks with augments like Overdrive Count Up.
  • For example, if Elma activates Overdrive with Overdrive Count Up XX, then Doug activates Overdrive, Doug will start at 10.
  • Additionally, if Lin activates Overdrive with Overdrive Count Up XX followed by L with Overdrive Count Up XX, Lin will start at 20, and L will start at (20+(20/2)) = 30.
• 2 Members: Soul Voices occur 50% more often.
• 3 Members: Gain 50 additional TP per hit when using an Art.
• 4 Members: All party members gain Super Armor, which reduces all damage taken by 50% and also prevents Stagger, Topple, Knockback, Launch, and Flinch.

Extending Overdrive

Overdrive's base duration of 15 seconds (25 in the Definitive Edition) can be extended using the Augment Extend Overdrive as well as the skill Hellhound.

The player can extend Overdrive by having 3000 TP during the Overdrive and reactivating it. This preserves the Overdrive counter as well.

Additionally, blue arts will extend Overdrive by .1 seconds per count (at max: 10 seconds) and green arts will extend Overdrive by .05 seconds per count per party member targeted (at max: 5 seconds per party member). This means that green arts that target all allies will extend Overdrive four times more than green arts that target just one ally, as long as all party members are alive.

Gaining HP during Overdrive

The augment Overdrive: Recover HP grants health to users when activating Overdrive.

Using a blue art followed by a green art heals the user by 10% of their max HP.

Gaining TP during Overdrive

The augment Overdrive: Gain TP grants extra TP to users when activating Overdrive. Additionally, the skill Grand Procession grants TP to all party members when activating Overdrive.

The skill TP Overdrive boosts TP when Arts are used during Overdrive.

When purple arts are used during Overdrive, the user's TP increases by 10 per count per hit (max. 1000 per hit).

When 3 party members use Overdrive at the same time, the Overdrive users gain 50 additional TP per hit when using their Arts.

Other Boosts

These skills give extra effects to Overdrive:

• Red Zone: Boosts critical rate
• Stellar Entry: Entering a Skell during Overdrive gives a large amount of GP.

Dying during Overdrive

Unfortunately, unlike with Chain Attacks in the other Xenoblade games, Overdrive does not grant any form of invincibility, meaning that players can lose their Overdrive if they aren't careful with their health.

Damage reduction is only possible if all 4 party members are in Overdrive, and even so, a 50% damage reduction may not be enough against some of the more powerful arts in the game.

End of Overdrive

Overdrive can end in one of four ways:

• The timer bar to the right of the counter is fully emptied.
• The fighter using Overdrive is incapacitated.
• The player pressed B while a Soul Challenge prompt is not on screen, sheathing their weapon immediately.
• The team has defeated all enemies. In this case, the player will do a random emote before gameplay continues.

Once Overdrive ends, two values show: Total Damage and Party Total. Total damage calculates the amount of damage the player dealt during Overdrive, and Party Total calculates the total damage done by the party. The latter value only appears once all party members have finished their Overdrives.

The maximum damage value shown by the end screen caps at 99,999,999 damage.

Skell Overdrive

An example of a Skell that has activated Overdrive.

Skells use a version of Overdrive that costs GP, or Gear Points. Similar to Overdrives on foot, it costs 3000 GP to activate Overdrive. Unlike on foot where TP is instantly consumed, the GP is only consumed at the end of the Overdrive, requiring the Skell to start from scratch unless the pilot has Max GP Drive or an Inferno or Lailah Skell. Additionally, Cockpit Time activations will not grant extra GP during Overdrive.

Uniquely to Skells, activating Overdrive automatically nullifies the effects of mobility debuffs such as Topple or Launch. This does not make Skells immune to those effects during Overdrive.

Most of the effects of Overdrive on Skells varies depending on the Skell used. However, each of them:

• Last 15 seconds when activated, and then 13 more seconds for each extension.
• Have a chance to be extended each time the Overdrive timer runs out. This chance can be further increased using the Augment Overdrive.EXTEND, but it can only happen a maximum of five times for a total of six rounds of Overdrive.
  • The base chance of Overdrive extension each round are as follows:

1. 100%
2. 50%
3. 0%
4. 0%
5. 0%

• Increase the chance of Cockpit Time to a value alternating between 30% (odd rounds) and 20% (even rounds). Each Cockpit Time increases the chance of Overdrive extension by 20%.
• Remove the 30-second lockout period of Cockpit Time (only if the Cockpit Time occurred during Overdrive; if a Cockpit Time occurs out of Overdrive and then Overdrive is activated less than 30 seconds later, Cockpit Time will still be locked out for the remainder of the 30 seconds).
• Add +200% to the recharge speed of Skell Arts during Cockpit Time, additive with other boosts to recharge speed during Overdrive. (Due to the short duration of Cockpit Time and its property of instantly recharging all Arts at the start, this has little effect in practice.)

The effects of Overdrive on each Skell are as follows:

Skell Type	Overdrive Name	Overdrive Effects
Urban	Oboro	Zero Fuel Use Deal More Damage (50 %) Take Less Ranged Damage (50 %) Appendage Regen (30 %)
Formula & Hraesvelg	Jinrai	Zero Fuel Use Accuracy & Evasion Up (150 %) Critical Chance Up (50 %) Cooldown Boost (100 %)
Verus & US0232 Police	Hagane	Zero Fuel Use Melee Weapon Attack Up (100 %) Appendage Regen (40 %) 2x Damage Reflect: Physical
Lailah	Nagi	Zero Fuel Use Timed Regen (20 %) Appendage Regen (50 %) Take Less Damage (50 %) Debuff Immunity
Inferno	Hibana	Zero Fuel Use Appendage Regen (40 %) Ranged Weapon Attack Up (100 %) 2x Damage Reflect: Thermal
Mastema	Gekitetsu	Zero Fuel Use Ranged Weapon Attack Up (100 %) 2x Damage Reflect: Beam Take Less Damage (30 %)
Amdusias	Kurenai	Zero Fuel Use Absorb Fuel with Melee (2 %) Double Crush Melee Weapon Attack Up (100 %)
Ares	Legion	Zero Fuel Use Accuracy & Evasion Up (200 %) Cooldown Boost (200 %) Deal More Damage (200 %) Appendage Regen (50 %)
US0830 Dozer, US0850 Excavator, and US0860 Excavator	Kamikaze (Wii U) Moroha (DE)	Zero Fuel Use Deal More Damage (150 %) Accuracy & Evasion Up (200 %) Reverse Damage

Miran Archives

Overdrive

Name	Description	Image
※ Overdrive	A new combat ability that humanity acquired along with their mimeosome form. A similar system has been incorporated into Skell architecture.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Overdrive	—
Japanese	オーバークロックギア (O. C. ギア)	Overclock Gear (OC Gear)
French	Métamode
German	Übertakten	Overclock
Spanish	Turbo
Italian	Turbo
Chinese (simplified)	超频齿轮 (O.C.齿轮)	Overclock Gear
Chinese (traditional)	超頻齒輪 (O.C.齒輪)	Overclock Gear
Korean	오버 클록 기어 (O.C.기어)	Over Clock Gear

Gallery

• 

  The only Overdrive tutorial in the Wii U version.

• 

  Elma in Overdrive. Note the unique effect around her character.

• 

  The ending numbers after an Overdrive finishes, indicating how much damage the player and their party did.

• 

  An Ares Prime in Overdrive. Note the unique effect.