Chain Attack (Xenoblade)

Chain Attacks are a reccuring battle mechanic in the Xenoblade series. They are a state that can be activated by spending a full Party Gauge. During that state, the flow of the battle will stop and the player will have to choose an Art to perform for each party member, if certain conditions are met, it is possible to extand the Chain attack by gaining bonus turn with the party members. So far they have only appeared in Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and their subgames.

Xenoblade Chronicles

Fiora performing a Chain Attack in Xenoblade Chronicles.

It is important to note that during the Chain attack time is essentially frozen, which means that any debuff inflicted before or during the Chain Attack will stop dealing damage over time until the Chain Attack is finished. The target is still afected by the debuffs however and will be treated as such during the Chain attack, it is just the duration of the debuff and damage over time that is halted. Certain party members will also be excluded from the Chain attack if they are suffering from Daze, Topple or one of their own art that put them in a state that exclude them from the Chain attack such as Cool Off or Play Dead. Enemies with resistances and immunities like the Mechons will keep those during the Chain Attack.

Chain Multipliers

The multipliers boosts the damage and healing of Arts used during the Chain Attack. The multiplier goes up when multiple arts of the same color are used consecutively. The maximum the multiplier can go to is five, which is signaled by the word MAX on screen. Talent arts are counted as neutral and will make it so both the art before it and after it can raise the counter no matter it's color. This is supposed to be used to change the color of the current combo and continue it with new arts without reseting the multiplier. Each multipler has a set damage boost linked to it that can be calculated as followed:

• 1 - damage = Normal
• 2 - damage +100%
• 3 - damage +300%
• 4 - damage +500%
• MAX - damage +700%

Chain Links

Chain Links are the mechanic that define the number of concecutive attack in a Chain Attack. Starting a Chain Attack with three able party member guarantee you three attacks but this number gets reduced by one for each incapacited party member. The most attack that can be performed during a Chain Attack is fifteen. After doing one attack with each available party member, a timed button prompt has a chance to appear, if it is successfully exected, one bonus attack will be added to the Chain Attack. This has a chance to be repeated at the end of each bonus attack depending on a few factors, including:

• Affinity between the characters in the Chain Attack.
• Where the circle is stopped; on the white line or after it.
• Characters' Tension.
• Character's skills

The formula used to calculate the chance of another Chain Link happening is as follow:

• chance of chain link continuation = tension level parameter (expressed in percent) + 30 * (affinity points / 5000) + additional chain link skill (15% from Shulk; 5% from Reyn) + B button press accuracy

The tension level parameters are calculated like this:

• Very low tension = 0
• Low tension = 15
• Normal = 20
• High tension = 25
• Very high tension = 30

The bonus gained from Shulk and Reyn's skills are found in Shulk's Humanity skill tree and in Reyn's Camaraderie's skill tree.

Effect on Arts

The Chain attack has also some effect on Arts. It should be noted that each art can only be used once during a Chain Attack aside from Elemental Discharge. Cool Off cannot be used however as it would remove Sharla from the Chain Attack, as such her overheating mechanic is also frozen until the end of the Chain Attack. Status effects can be stacked on a target in the frozen time of the Chain attack resulting in them being much longer than usual if a specific status effect is actively stacked by the player. Auras that are active or activated during the time attack will still have their effects but their timer will not move during the Chain Attack. Healing and damaging art are influenced by the current multiplier. Debuffing arts will still remove the effects they are targeting during the Chain Attack. Combos and arts that need special conditions to gain new effects still need those fulfilled to inflict their conditional effects. Any area of effect ability still count the distance between the party members or the targeted enemy during a Chain Attack and any target outside of that zone will not be affected by their effects. Knockback still works and will result in the party members reajusting their position around the target if it is hit with Knockback.

List of Enemies that can use Chain Attacks

The player is not the only one that can use Chain Attack and certain enemies can start one against a party member if they are in numbers of three or more. The enemies that can use it are:

Unique Monsters

• Trainer Harmelon with his two Berserk Arduns
• Vagrant Alfead and two Brave Tirkin
• Field Altrich and two Lancer Tirkin

Story Exclusive Enemies

• Guard Entia, Scout Entia and Wizard Entia

Bosses

• Zanza and his Zanza Guardians

Species

• Chilkin
• Gogol
• Hode
• Igna
• Kromar
• Mechon
• Tirkin

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

The starting screen of the Chain Attack in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

The core concept of the Chain Attacks of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country is essentially the same as the one in Xenoblade Chronicles. It is still a state were the party takes turn choosing attacks to perform on an enemy after spending their party gauge but the mechanics it depends on are vastly different. For starters, the chain attack doesn't make use of standard Blade arts but instead uses Blade Specials as its standard attacks. the level of the Blade Special will increase each time the chain attack is extended and the goal is to fill the full burst gauge that appears at the start of the chain attack to perform a finishing move called Full Burst. It should also be noted that unlike the first game, if an enemy is defeated by the Chain Attack, it will still be targeted and any bonus damage inficted to him will go toward increasing the number of its drops at the end of the Chain Attack.

Elemental Orbs

The main mechanic that differentiate the system of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 from the first one is the Elemental Orb system. Elemental Orbs are a key mechanic of the combat of the game and must be planned in advance during the normal phase of the combat to prepare for the Chain Attack. By performing a level 3 Blade Combo during the fight, the party will spawn an orb that matches the element of the last attack utilized. In Torna, every Blade Special spawn an orb. This orb will gravitate around the target and will force a debuff on the enemy based on the orb's element. The goal is to stack as much orb as possible on a single enemy and then use a Chain Attack. The Chain Attack can be extended by bursting those orbs. Each orb as a base ressistance of three. An attack of the opposite element will naturally target its opposing orb and inflict two damage to it. An attack that has no orb of the opposite element will inflict one damage on a random one. If Pneuma is used during the fight, each of her attack will inflict one level of damage to each orb. Each broken orb allows for three more attack, one for each party member. If the party fails to break an orb in three attacks, the Chain Attack ends.

The eight elements, paired by opposites, are:

Fire	Wind	Earth	Light
Water	Ice	Electric	Dark

Full Burst

When the full burst gauge is completed, which happens after five broken orbs or four if Pneuma is used, the party will engage in a finishing move called full burst. A certain percentage of damage will be added depending on the number of orbs still intact when the full burst starts. The party then use all of the arts of their current blade.

• 0 orb - 500%
• 1 orb - 1000%
• 2 orbs - 1500%
• 3 orbs - 3000%
• 4 orbs - 5500%