Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
There is a lot to learn in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and chief among this is the Chain Attack. This unique type of attack will have you stringing together the moves from various characters, rewarding you with different effects and bonuses. In order to make the most of Chain Attacks, you’re going to need to know how they work.
Chain Attacks are a special in-battle system in which a character leads off an all-out team attack. The attack has special effects such as defense debuffs or team healing depending on which character you lead with. Then, when they carry out the attack, you choose a new character to lead and continue the assault with their own effect.
A Chain Attack is started by pressing the + button once the Chain Attack meter is filled from successful combat actions (check out our controls guide for help with what each button does). Then you choose from one of three starters with their own benefits to the overall chain to start a Chain Order. After that, you choose individual party members to attack with their equipped Arts (special attacks/abilities). Each one adds Tactical Points (TP) to a meter that must be filled to 100% in order to complete the Order, finish the starting character's part of the chain, deal big damage, and set their effect in motion.
Different things affect the Tactical Points. Consider first the characters in your party. A Keves/Agnus character gets more TP from the attacks of a Keves/Agnus party member respectively. Likewise, there are bonuses for class types. If you start with an Attacker, they get more TP from the moves of another attacker.
Finally, playing to class strengths has special effects on the chain. If an Attacker starts the Chain Attack, they get a First Blood bonus with extra damage and TP. Healers can't push the TP meter past 99%, but they gain from using healing arts on allies. Finally, when Defenders finish a chain, they add more TP and become available in the next Chain Attack Order.
If characters haven't been used in a Chain Attack, you get to start another Chain Attack with a new character and whatever benefits their Chain Order position would yield.
While at first glance Chain Attacks can seem complicated, they wind up being easy to understand though complex in their strategies after you’ve performed a few. To learn more about this rich and in-depth game, stop by our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 page.