In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you will unlock in Chapter 2 a mechanism allowing you to do a lot of damage to enemies: chains. We will see together how to trigger it, and how it works. Some additions to this mechanic are unlocked later in the adventure, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, wait until you’ve passed Chapter 4 to read the last part.
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In combat, you will see a gauge appear on the right of the screen: the chain gauge. To fill it, you have to cancel an auto-attack with a special move, i.e. use a skill right in the middle of the attack animation. Once it is filled, you will have to press +, and let’s go to put enormous damage to enemies.
The mechanics of chaining
Here is how a chaining turn works: you will have to choose between 3 attack orders, each having an effect that is triggered if the chaining is successful. Once the order is chosen, you will see a gauge at the top right with percentages, and your characters at the bottom left with numbers above their heads. The objective is to pass the bar at 100% to succeed in the sequence. For this, you will have to choose which attack will be launched by which character. Once this is done, you will see the attack unfold and you will gain at least the number of percentages registered on the character (example: if Eunie has a value of 25, if you launch an attack with her, you will gain at least 25% ). Once a character is used, it will not come back unless it is reactivated (we will see this notion a bit later). If you manage to reach at least 100%, the sequence is successful, the attack order is triggered, increasing the percentage of damage that the enemy will take on the following attacks. Before choosing a second order, a character will be reactivated, and we will start again with a new attack order.
Each attack order spends 1/3 of the chain gauge. If you have used all your characters and you do not reach 100%, the chain ends.
If you kill the enemy during the chain, you will gain an experience boost. This will grow as attacks are made after the death of the enemy during the chain.
If you read that correctly, we said at least 100% to successfully complete a chain, but that number can go higher. There are 3 standard values that will allow you to reactivate more or less characters:
- Between 100 and 149: 1 character
- Between 150 and 199: 2 characters
- 200 or more: 3 characters
You will therefore quickly have understood that you have to try to make the highest percentage possible in order to be able to reactivate the most characters, and thus have a greater range of actions for the next orders.
During the sequences, you can inflict status alterations on the enemy (lower stats, fall, etc.) as in classic combat. If you do, you’ll grab a few extra percentages so feel free to use and abuse it.
Let’s see some specificities related to the character class:
- Attackers gain a 25% bonus if used first during an attack order.
- Tanks will reactivate the character that had the highest percentage and grant them an additional percentage boost for the next turn, if used last to complete the attack order.
- Healers will never be able to fill the gauge to 100%, the gauge will lock at 99%.
You will therefore have understood the strategy to be able to quickly inflate the gauge: you will have to start each attack order with an attacker to quickly inflate the gauge, follow up with a healer to be closest to 100%, and end with a tank to gain an additional boost on revived characters in the next turn.
There are also 2 small mechanics to increase this counter a little more: collaboration and the appropriate role. Collaboration offers a 5% bonus if you use a character from the same army as the character chosen to initiate the attack order (Keves or Agnus). The appropriate role provides a 10% bonus if you use a character with the same role as on the attack order.
The role of the hero
The hero of your team has some specificities:
- If you select it for an attack order, it will not spend a turn, allowing you to take a turn for free.
- When you choose it to attack the enemy during an order, it offers a different bonus depending on the hero that accompanies you.
- If the hero is a healer, the rule on healers does not apply and he can therefore conclude an attack order.
So if you have read this far correctly, you can chain 4 rounds following the indications above, but it is possible to do an additional round.
L’ordre Ouroboros
Warning: if you have not yet passed Chapter 4, you will not have this mechanism.
To be able to trigger an Ouroboros order, you must have played the attack orders of 2 characters used for an Ouroboros fusion (Noah and Mio, Eunie and Taion, Sena and Lanz) during the chain. You don’t have to play these orders consecutively. To know which Ouroboros will be played, it’s very simple, it will be the first character of the fusion duo used.
Example: if in your turn, you played Noah then Eunie, then a hero and finally Mio, you will trigger the Ouroboros order of Noah.
If you have any chain gauge left, the Ouroboros symbol will be blue during the reactivation, you can choose between an Ouroboros or another character this turn. Be careful, if you do not select the Ouroboros during this turn, it will no longer be selectable during the chain. If you no longer have a chain gauge, the symbol will be golden and you will only be able to select the Ouroboros.
During this turn, all of your characters will be reactivated. It’s up to you to maximize the damage this turn. After being triggered, the chain ends.
Small fun fact: if you trigger a chain while the character you control is in Ouroboros form and your interlink is at level 3, you will only have 2 Ouroboros orders and no attack orders. But we advise against it because it is much less interesting than a classic sequence.
To conclude :
Once the chain is triggered, try to max out each attack order to get the best possible percentage so you have more options for subsequent orders. If you have a hero attack order, feel free to use it, it gives you a free order. If you manage to have good scores during the attack orders, you can end your chain with an Ouroboros order to maximize the damage.
Thanks to Kurosekai for proofreading and refining some details.
!!!! Trick spoiler (do not read until you have passed chapter 5)!!!!
|| You will get Fiona by completing the “Transparent Dreams” side quest in the Cadensia region. She has a very interesting attack order: she will give you back the chain gauge, between one and two turns depending on her level. Coupled with her effect boosting the TP of all characters by 15%, it becomes very easy with her to do more than 5 turns with high percentages. ||