Xenoblade Chronicles

Which rare blades are you using? And which weapons are you using on each character? This can be important; certain weapons simply don't work on certain characters.

I haven't got many rare blades yet. I've been unlucky and just pulling the generic 'tron' blades on Rex and Nia, although I got extremely lucky and managed to pull a blade called 'Godfry'(I think that's his name? It's a non-generic blade that's ice-based and uses a hammer) on Nia.

Other than that, I've been using a generic wind blade on Rex, whose weapons are some kind of punching attack. Mainly because it has a healing attack that charges relatively quickly.

edited 23rd May '18 4:51:52 AM by TokoWH

I'm not surprised. Godfrey's the most common and the worst rare blade. Don't use him.

You also don't want to be using Knuckle Claws on Rex. Sadly you can't get rid of that useless wind knuckle blade because fuck you that's why. You also don't want to be using tank blades on Nia.

The ideal weapons for Rex are the Greataxe, Katana, and Megalance. The ideal weapons for Nia are the Bitball, Knuckle Claws, and maybe the Greataxe. Basically if it has a Driver Combo Art (Break, Topple, Launch, Smash), it's a safe pick.

edited 23rd May '18 4:58:36 AM by RainingMetal

Hah, I fucking knew it would be Godfrey, and that it would get that exact reaction.

But yeah, tanks are not great on your healer. You will generally want to use your core crystals on Nia and then later party members, to get access to rares that better fit their roles (and the inevitable commons for field skills). And mostly don't use them on Rex, since he's the protagonist and gets exclusive access to several blades over the course of the story (although the Beastly core crystal you'll get during chapter 3 works perfectly well on him).

edited 23rd May '18 5:09:21 AM by Eschaton

Godfrey is pretty bad, admittedly Shield Hammer is just a bad class in general and I hope they all get buffed. He's just the worst of the bunch. When Poppibuster, Finch and Kassandra are the only good Shield Hammers there's a problem.

The first rare Blade I got was actually Kora with the Knuckle Claws. If you're looking at offensive weapons instead of healing weapons on Nia, I would say Ether Cannons are pretty good.

edited 23rd May '18 5:54:15 AM by ReynTime250

Electra's reflection ability also makes her usuable, but yeah other than that they're generally not great.

@Airman: Also, the idea was that X takes place like hundreds of years in the past compared to X1 and X2, so by the time Klaus comes along humanity has basically rebuilt itself and beefed up its technology with alien tech. But yeah, I realize it's pretty much impossible practically speaking. I just thought it would be a more interesting way of connecting the games than just "it's another alternate universe."

edited 23rd May '18 7:14:24 AM by JapaneseTeeth

At last, Master Muscle Mod gotten after all that Tiger Tiger grinding◊

Wanted that mod before New Game Plus, did you? I can say for myself. Have a ton of Ether Crystals I don't know what to do with.

Godfrey is still better than the common Blades you’ll get in the early game, even if he’s not especially useful later on. I wouldn’t rule out using him entirely.

That said, having him on Nia is definitely worse than on Rex, so it’s up to you to decide whether she’d be better off with commons until she can get some other rare Blades. Try out different combinations and see what you like best.

I don't know. At least common blades have the potential of having actually useful battle and field skills.

True, a 4 star common can actually be pretty good depending on RNG.

Not that one should expect to see one that early in the game due to the gacha mechanics being more middle-fingered than actually random. Could you imagine how awesome it would be to get 4-crowns before Chapter 3? It would help curb the limited amount of overdrives at that point too!

Regardless, you should focus on getting the right weapons for the right drivers for the time being, even if they're commons. Best to use two-crowns and up, and don't bother with the one crowns.

I meant better than early-game commons, which are going to be 1 and 2-crowns.

Well, I'd rather use a 2-crown over Godfrey. Again, they still have the potential to have some meaningful field skills, and they aren't always stuck with a shield hammer.

Godfrey should be fine for now. He's not the best Rare Blade but he's better than the generics and can get the job done, and that's what matters.

Godfrey was my first Rare Blade, and on Nia as well, and she did just fine with him for a large portion of the game. If she gets too distracted tanking instead of healing, though, consider switching him out for a generic Twin Rings, Knuckle Claws, or Bitball user. If she has any of those.

Here's my advice for drawing blades in the early game, as little impact as it may have.

Notice the idea stats and boosters? That plays a role in what kind of blade that you'll draw from the random pool. Bravery represents Fire and Water, Truth represents Wind and Ice, Compassion represents Electric and Earth, and Justice represents Dark and sometimes Light. Luck also plays a factor when it comes to drawing rare blades. You can find a luck boosting accessory from the Bunnit boss just outside Torigoth.

With the best healers being Wind or Ice, you'll want to maximize Truth on Nia, and avoid Bravery, as there are no Fire or Water healers that are drawn from the random pool (it probably helps that you got that fuckface Godfrey out of the way). You'll want to focus on Justice for Rex and avoid Truth, as none of the rare blades for Wind or Ice are exactly ideal for him (you'll understand later). Of course, Rex starts out with Truth as his maximized stat while Nia starts out with Bravery as hers. Level up common blades to change this.

edited 23rd May '18 2:40:03 PM by RainingMetal

If you're in chapter 3 I think you can start a quest to get a core that's guaranteed to always give whoever resonates with it an electric bitball. I'm not 100% sure you can complete it, I forget if you get access to one of the places you need to go for it in chapter 3 or in chapter 4. But yes, if you see a weird woman with rings floating around her and a sidequest marker named Vess browsing the food stalls of Torigoth, chat her up and pick up her quest.

It takes a fair while before you can complete that quest since you need access to Mor Ardain.

It's definitely only available in chapter 4. Because Drivers dying and their blades forgetting is introduced in great detail in chapter 3.

edited 23rd May '18 6:06:30 PM by RainingMetal

Yeah, I looked it up and it can only be finished after chapter 4 begins. Still, it's decent to at least pick it up so you can do the things in chapter 4 you need to do to get the core quickly enough after that.

Incidentally, chapter 4 is where a fairly decent chunk of the actual combat options open up- Rex gets the one blade that he can use for Smash arts, for example, which is a GODSEND because driver combos are really freaking powerful if you finish them with a Smash.

Plus you get loot!

And you can equip three blades per driver instead of the measly two!

Really, chapter 4 opens up a LOT of options you didn't have before and it's great, perfect time to do sidequests

It's too bad that Vandham can't benefit from all of this. Not even in New Game Plus.

It's also worth pointing out that you can get Sheba super early on too, if you're willing to spend a lot of time salvaging. Although honestly it's probably better to wait until Mor Ardain is available so you can grind cores simultaneously.

Plus the ideal driver for that blade isn't available until much later.

Although personally I'd pass on that blade entirely.