Pandoria/Gameplay (XC2)

Pandoria
Driver	Zeke
Gender	Female
Type	Humanoid
Weapon	Big Bang Edge
Joins	Indol (Goetuis Port)

This article is about Pandoria's gameplay in this specific game. For information on the character in general, see Pandoria.

Pandoria is the primary Blade of Zeke in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Overview

Pandoria at first seems to be a rather underwhelming blade. Although her weapon type boasts a high auto-attack, and she is in the same critical rate tier as Greataxes, her arts on her main driver Zeke are slow, befitting of Zeke's style-over-substance approach. In fact, Rex's arts on Pandoria are faster and in general better. Her main use case is as a driver combo support, since she provides a launch art to either of her possible drivers and has a low blade cooldown (15s at base).

However, this all changes with the unlocking of Zeke's New Game Plus-exclusive driver skill Unleash Shining Justice, allowing the player to activate the legendary Eye of Shining Justice (EoSJ) in gameplay. This effect provides a 2x multiplier to all damage, and increases the animation speed of Zeke's auto-attacks and arts greatly, making EoSJ Pandoria a top source of arts DPS. Additionally, EoSJ provides immunity to all reactions as well as faster movement speed. This effect lasts 90 seconds, which is ample time to deal with all overworld enemies.

Gameplay

Due to the Unleash Shining Justice skill having such a dramatic effect, Pandoria's options and viability are practically night and day based on whether the game is in a New Game Plus cycle or not.

Regular gameplay

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New Game Plus gameplay

If using Pandoria as a driver combo support, she can be equippped to either Zeke or Rex (often Zeke) with a Fast Blade Switch Aux Core and her driver an Overclocking Bangle so that they can cycle through blades quickly to advance the driver combo. In fact, the Overclocking Bangle may be overkill, since Pandoria's blade cooldown is quite low. For example, with Fast Blade Switch Aux Cores on every blade, Zeke can repeatedly topple, launch, and smash enemies with Adenine/Kora, Pandoria, and Corvin. Rex can also make use of Pandoria to launch alongside Mythra to topple and Roc/Corvin to smash, although this will usually require an Overclocking Bangle. Giving Pandoria's driver a Goliath Ring to increase launch duration is a good choice as well. If a Lv.1 or 2 blade combo is active, giving Pandoria a Fusion Combo Up Aux Core will boost both the duration of the Blade Combo and the launch when it happens.

If using Pandoria for arts damage, Zeke just has to get Pandoria to Max Affinity either using Hunter's Chemistry Aux Cores on non-used Blades or simply by having her out for a while, press R and +, wait for him to complete his extremely cool and extremely necessary activation animation, and then essentially just start pressing buttons. In this case, using Meat type items (which are Zeke and Pandoria's favorite item class) that provide Art Recharge, such as Char-Grilled Grumbird and Glarna Stir-Fry, will allow continuous art spam without any waiting. If fighting a single enemy, it is a good idea to wait for the third auto-attack and begin a cancel chain from there, since this will provide a 1.3x multiplier to damage that continues for all arts canceled into subsequently. Continuously canceling into arts will maintain this damage multiplier throughout the whole chain. Due to Pandoria's Thunderblast skill, enemies cannnot interrupt this chain by blocking. Good accessory choices for this are Crimson Headband, to increase damage on critical hits, and Noise Dampener, which provides a 1.69x increase to arts damage when canceled into. This stacks with the native arts damage increase from canceling into arts (1.1x if from auto-attack 1 or a raw art, 1.2x from autoattack 2, 1.3x from autoattack 3), as well as Zeke's Fiendish Pursuit skill (1.2x damage boost from canceling), but these increases all stack independently from other increases, making the Noise Dampener item, and canceling in general, very powerful.

While EoSJ provides immunity from reactions, it does not provide protection from damage, meaning combined with Pandoria's rather unimpressive defenses and the insane amount of aggro earned by dealing so much damage, Zeke will have a hard time surviving the full EoSJ duration. Thus, equipping an Avant-Garde Medal for critical healing is not a bad choice, since he will be dealing damage so fast that he should maintain full health unless he gets one-shot (or unlucky, as he does). However, an even stronger (although slightly expensive) solution is to pair unleashing the EoSJ Pandoria with also unleashing Pneuma. This solves two major problems with EoSJ: first, since Rex with Pneuma will take all aggro and will increase party evasion and reaction success rate by 50%, Zeke's survivability increases by a lot. Second, although EoSJ provides a huge boost to damage, Pandoria's middling critical rate holds it back somewhat. Pneuma will increase party critical rate to 100%, allowing Zeke to take full advantage of critical damage bonuses. Some natural team pairings for EoSJ Zeke are using Rex/Mythra (and later Rex/Pneuma) to topple, and Tora with Poppi QTπ to break and launch, with Zeke providing a backup Launch art. Another option is to use Nia with Fiora or Elma to break and Adenine or Nim to launch with Zeke as a backup Launch. Pneuma's break resistance reduction can help Nia break, and Fiora and Elma's high critical rate can build up party gauge to get Pneuma out sooner. For Nia to cycle between breaking and launching with this setup, a blade combo has to be active, and this blade combo should be one that either the breaking and launching Blade can continue or one that neither Blade can continue. Both these options should allow for Zeke to take full advantage of launched enemies to deal maximal damage, and should make survivability not a huge problem, and thus should make critical healing unnecessary.

Pandoria's specials, while not bad, suffer from low hit count and slow animations. Especially when using EoSJ, which does not speed up specials like it does arts, it is really not worth wasting the limited time using specials when arts will do more damage and faster. However, the critical damage effect and small AoE on Pandoria's Lv.2 special, Electric Circus, and Lv.3 special, Thunder Doom, are not bad. The exception is Pandoria's Lv.4 special, Sonic Thunderslash, which is arguably the best Lv. 4 special in the game. With its 16 hits, 60% critical increase mod, and 85% increased critical damage effect, it is incredibly powerful, especially with critical rate increases. It is especially devastating in Full Bursts, where it can quite easily do 16 million damage even without using EoSJ.

If using for arts spam, the Tachyon Chip, providing a 25% critical damage increase, is often the best choice for Pandoria, especially if using a source of critical rate increases like Fiora or Pneuma. If equipping the Crimson Headband item without any source of critical rate increases, the Moon Matter Chip is also a good bet, and will provide similar or better damage to the Tachyon chip if the Crimson Headband item is equipped. Pure damage Aux Cores like Affinity Max Atk and Outdoor Atk Up are also good fits.

Stats

Note: Cooldown time depends on Trust.

General stats

Element	Electric
Weapon class	Big Bang Edge
Default weapon	Purple Lightning Edge
Cooldown time	15.00s
Aux Core Slots	3
Merc Group name	Team Zeke 4eva

Stat modifiers

Physical defense	+5%
Ether defense	+10%
Maximum HP	+0%
Strength	+0%
Ether	+0%
Dexterity	+0%
Agility	+0%

Favorite items

Categories	Meats
	Literature
Items	Fried Octomayo
	Moonstar Lipstick

Skills

Specials

Level	Name	Description
	Lightning Force	Catch a lightning strike with your wand and throw it out to attack enemies.
	Electric Circus	Manipulate an electrified weapon with your wand and attack the enemy.
	Thunder Doom	Smash your weapon into the ground for a massive lightning explosion.
	Sonic Thunderslash	Power up Driver to strike the enemy at ultra high speed.

Blade Arts

Name	Probability	Recharge	Description
Arts Plus	50%	18.75s	Boosts power of next Driver Art.
Recharge Boost	50%	37.5s	Boosts Arts recharge from auto-attack.

Battle Skills

Name	At level I	At level V
Quickest Purple	Boosts Arts recharge by 30% at max Affinity.	Boosts Arts recharge by 50% at max Affinity.
Sudden Spark	Increases auto-attack speed by 20%.	Increases auto-attack speed by 30%.
Thunderblast	Adds a 60% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.	Adds a 100% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.

Field Skills

Name	Description
Electric Mastery	The power of an Electric Blade.
Lockpicking	The power to open various things. Works on doors, treasure troves, etc.
Ichthyology	Knowledge related to fish.

Affinity Chart

		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Key affinity condition		(unlocked)	Increase Trust. (x100)	Increase Trust. (x1,300)	Increase Trust. (x3,800)	Increase Trust. (x8,800)
Reward text			I've gotta get stronger.	I'm still just getting started! You ain't seen nothing yet!	I haven't even gotten serious yet. You just wait and see.	OK, I'm getting serious! Like, actually serious this time! Honest!
Reward			Compassion x200	Compassion x300	Compassion x500	Compassion x800
Lightning Force	Effect	Increases damage dealt to machines by 60%.	Increases damage dealt to machines by 70%.	Increases damage dealt to machines by 80%.	Increases damage dealt to machines by 90%.	Increases damage dealt to machines by 100%.
	Condition	(unlocked)	Deal a certain amount of damage in one hit. (x800)	Deal a certain amount of total damage. (x16,000)	Use Lightning Force. (x12)	Defeat Peerless Beaufort in Leftheria. (x1) Revealed after the party enters the Cloudway in Leftheria.
	Reward text		Even I can handle this much!	You think this is all I've got? My sights're set much higher!	Let me show you just how much I've grown!	That wasn't easy...but we won. And that just goes to show how strong I've gotten!
	Reward		Compassion x200	Compassion x300	Compassion x500	Compassion x800
Electric Circus	Effect	Increases critical damage by 25%.	Increases critical damage by 40%.	Increases critical damage by 55%.	Increases critical damage by 70%.	Increases critical damage by 85%.
	Condition	(unlocked)	Use Electric Circus. (x7)	Deal a certain amount of damage in one hit. (x2,400)	Defeat a Mabluk Aspar at the Cliffs of Morytha. (x4) Revealed after the party sets foot on the Cliffs of Morytha.	Use Electric Circus. (x10)
	Reward text		Check out what I can do. I haven't been slacking off!	I feel like my attack's getting stronger. Can't wait to try it out!	No matter how many times I fight these things, I can't get over how creepy they look!	That went better than I expected. I'm gonna use this one to make battles a breeze from now on!
	Reward		Truth x200	Truth x300	Truth x500	Truth x800
Thunder Doom	Effect	Increases critical damage by 25%.	Increases critical damage by 40%.	Increases critical damage by 55%.	Increases critical damage by 70%.	Increases critical damage by 85%.
	Condition	(unlocked)	Defeat Volff enemies in Tantal. (Excludes unique monsters.) (x6) Revealed after the party reaches Tantal.	Use Thunder Doom. (x6)	Deal a certain amount of damage in one hit. (x4,800)	Deal a certain amount of total damage. (x48,000)
	Reward text		They looked so fluffy I just wanted to cuddle them! But beating them up works too.	Getting pretty good at this, aren't I?	How'd you like my attack? Made a real impact, don'tcha think?	Looks like all my hard work's paying off.
	Reward		Compassion x200	Compassion x300	Compassion x500	Compassion x800
		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Quickest Purple	Effect	Boosts Arts recharge by 30% at max Affinity.	Boosts Arts recharge by 35% at max Affinity.	Boosts Arts recharge by 40% at max Affinity.	Boosts Arts recharge by 45% at max Affinity.	Boosts Arts recharge by 50% at max Affinity.
	Condition	(unlocked)	Raise Affinity in combat. (x2)	Raise Affinity in combat. (x5)	Swim a lot. (Previous instances count toward total.) (x1,000)	Finish an enemy. (x250)
	Reward text		When you put in the effort, you reap the rewards!	So this is what it means to share a bond of trust!	Just how far does this Cloud Sea go on for, anyway? You want to go have a quick look for me?	Is it just me, or do these monsters just keep popping up no matter how many of 'em we take out?
	Reward		Truth x200	Truth x300	Truth x500	Truth x800
Thunderblast	Effect	Adds a 60% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.	Adds a 70% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.	Adds a 80% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.	Adds a 90% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.	Adds a 100% chance of dealing a guard-annulling attack.
	Condition	(unlocked)	Use Pandoria's favorite pouch items. (Meat category) (x4)	Perform a Blade Combo. (x7)	Perform a Blade Combo. (x10)	Evade an attack. (x250)
	Reward text		Ah, meat. De-licious.	You want to see me get serious?	I'll show you why you should be scared of lightning.	Don't get distracted now. Gotta focus and strike when the foe's vulnerable!
	Reward		Truth x200	Truth x300	Truth x500	Truth x800
Sudden Spark	Effect	Increases auto-attack speed by 20%.	Increases auto-attack speed by 22%.	Increases auto-attack speed by 25%.	Increases auto-attack speed by 27%.	Increases auto-attack speed by 30%.
	Condition	Perform a Driver Combo. (It's enough to just be present.) (x10)	Use a Blade Art. (x5)	Use a Blade Art. (x6)	At Genbu Port in Tantal, view the Heart-to-Heart "What's in a Name?". Revealed after chapter 9 begins.	Find a Secret Area. (Previous instances count toward total.) (x12)
	Reward text	I got a whole lot stronger! The bad guys of Alrest better hide.	I'll back you up.	I feel like I can really help out a lot now.	Whew, Pyra really did a number on my prince there. He'll need some time to recover from that burn!	Hey, doesn't discovering all these amazing places make us kind of amazing, too?
	Reward	Compassion x100	Compassion x200	Compassion x300	Compassion x500	Compassion x800
		Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Electric Mastery	Effect	The power of an Electric Blade.
	Condition	(unlocked)		Defeat a Linka Skeet at the Cliffs of Morytha. (x5) Revealed after the party sets foot on the Cliffs of Morytha.		Defeat an Indoline Sentinel at the World Tree. (x4) Revealed after the party enters the World Tree.
	Reward text			I can feel myself getting stronger, and it feels pretty good!		If it's lightning you need, I'm your gal!
	Reward			Compassion x300		Compassion x800
Lockpicking	Effect	The power to open various things. Works on doors, treasure troves, etc.
	Condition	Use a Blade Art. (x3)	Open a treasure trove. (Previous instances count toward total.) (x50)		Open a treasure trove. (Previous instances count toward total.) (x200)
	Reward text	I get a new power? Aw, you shouldn't have!	I'll open anything, you name it! Well, maybe not quite anything...		I'll open anything, you name it! And I mean it this time!
	Reward	Truth x100	Truth x200		Truth x500
Ichthyology	Effect	Knowledge related to fish.
	Condition	(unlocked)		Collect fish. (x25)		Collect fish. (x30)
	Reward text			This was a learning experience.		I am the fishmaster! Like, I know a lot about fish. You know what I mean.
	Reward			Truth x300		Truth x800

Dialogue

Main article: Pandoria/Gameplay (XC2)/Dialogue

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