The shiny accompaniment to equipment, Gems play an integral role in Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. Unlike a lot of other role playing games, your equipment here comes with little other than it’s own statistics; damage in the case of weapons, Ether and Physical defence in the case of armour. Alas, for them to truly shine we must adorn them with Gems, allowing the player to affix all manner of strengths and benefits to them. There are Unique pieces of equipment of course, each of which comes with a permanent Gem affixed, but in the majority of cases the customisation comes down to the player. With such a huge array of said equipment available, and indeed a large selection of party members, exactly which of these Gems is worth your while, and who benefits most from which type?
Shulk
- Strength Up
- Arts Stealth
- Back Atk Plus
- Agility Up
- Arts Seal Resist
Being the protagonist with a large sword Shulk is all about doing huge gobs of damage, and as such it makes sense to give him a stack of Gems that improve this. Strength Up is an obvious one, since it’s a flat increase to both min and max weapon damage, so you’ll want to prioritise maxing this out where possible, even if it takes up multiple slots. Paired with this should almost certainly be an Arts Stealth gem, since the majority of Shulk’s damage is Arts based and you really don’t want him gaining aggro. Back Atk Plus is an obvious buff to his main damage source, Backslash, though we’d urge a little caution because when you combine this with his natural damage early in a battle, he’ll almost certainly draw aggro. Finally our two ‘utility’ type gems are Agility Up, which helps with both hit and dodge rate, and Arts Seal Resist, because whilst the Monado can cut through almost anything, one tiny art seal debuff can render it entirely useless…
Advertisement
Reyn
- Strength Up
- Aggro Up
- Topple Plus
- Recovery Up
- Debuff Resist
- Agility Up (Honorable Mention)
Next up is our beefy tank bro Reyn. Given that this big lad is essentially a required party member for the first quarter of the game, players will no doubt be used to his requirements; keep aggro, do reasonable damage and take as little as possible. In many ways he is the ‘face’ tank of the party, in that he chooses to mitigate damage taken rather than avoid it, like others. That’s not to say that avoidance is useless, hence the inclusion of an Agility Up gem to help him dodge, but his natural Agility stat is lower than others so he’s always likely to take hits. This is where Recovery Up steps in to ensure that he quickly restores any lost health, and Strength and Aggro Up ensure that he’s the one continuing to absorb hits. Topple Plus is more of a ‘nice bonus’ than anything, since he’s a reliable CPU option for making those combos happen, and he’s probably the only character that we consider taking Debuff Resist over Arts Seal Resist – this is a personal choice really, since the sealing of arts doesn’t really happen too much until the late and having Reyn resist debuffs for the majority of the game is probably more valuable.
Sharla
- Ether Up
- Arts Stealth
- Art Seal Resist
- Aggro Down
- HP Up
Contrary to our previous entry, Sharla is the closest you’ll get to a character that is determined not to have the interest of your opponents. This is of course because she’s almost exclusively designed to be a healer, and the last thing you want is for your healer to be taking oodles of damage. That said, our main recommendation here is to pile her up with Ether Up gems to boost her healing and anything that will reduce her aggro, including Arts Stealth and Aggro Down. This will ensure that she can keep your team topped up with minimal intrusion from the enemies. By the same token, the last thing you want is for her to lose access to those precious health restoring arts, so be sure to get an Art Seal Resist gem on there. Our last choice is personal preference, but there will be occasions when Sharla gets caught up in the crossfire, so we tend to opt for some HP Up just in case.
Advertisement
Dunban
- Haste
- Double Attack
- Aggro Up
- Strength Up
- Agility Up
Back on the aggro train we go, this time with the king of single target tanking: Dunban. Things are a little different to Reyn however, thanks mainly to his excellent damaging abilities, so we like to bring some Haste and Double Attack gems to accompany them. One of Dunban’s many benefits are his Auras, so we also like to bring Strength Up and Agility Up to compliment Peerless and Serene Heart respectively. You’ll note the lack of an Art Seal gem here, and whilst we’d certainly recommend this on pretty much every character going, Dunban is seemingly designed to dodge everything and you’d be surprised how many ‘Seal’ type attacks can be mitigated in this fashion. Our final choice is an Aggro Up gem – you could argue that this isn’t really necessary, but as you progress into the late game of Xenoblade Chronicles your damage dealers will really start dishing out the punishment, likely necessitating something to help your tanks out.
Riki
- Ether Up
- Arts Seal Resist
- Blaze Plus
- Chill Plus
- Poison Plus
We’ve talked at length previously about Riki and his hidden powers, during which we’ve noted that his kit can look a little unusual and confusing to the new player. Well after countless hours with the game, we’re here to tell you that he’s absolutely fantastic with an Ether based kit. That being the case, first you’ll want to load him up with Ether Up gems, preferably to the cap if you can. Next you’ll want to lean into his damage kit even further by boosting his three main damage types through Blaze Plus, Chill Plus and Poison Plus. In the late game you can boost these by an incredible 100%, allowing the unassuming little chap to plow out massive damage alongside frequent and powerful heals. Were it not obvious already, especially on the characters that primarily cast spells, grab yourself an Art Seal Resist gem as soon as possible – those tiny hammers that he carries don’t really cut the mustard alone.
Advertisement
Melia
- Ether Up
- Arts Seal Resist
- Chill Plus
- Electric Plus
- Blaze Plus
Gem loadout looks a bit familiar? Yes that’s right, we want a very similar setup for Melia as we do Riki, though we should note that you’ll want to be careful about overlapping damage types should you decide to party them up together. Ether Up is the obvious one since she’ll be dealing almost exclusively ether based spells and once again we’ll be recommending an Art Seal Resist, because Melia’s auto attack is even worse than Riki’s. Lastly you’ll want to focus on her three main damaging elements; Chill Plus, Electric Plus and Blaze Plus will take her numbers up to the next level and help her to approach ridiculous levels of damage in the late game. Should you decide to go for these options, and indeed use Melia in a leadership role towards the latter third of the game… Be sure not to forget those Aggro gems we mentioned on a few other characters… You’ll understand once you get there.
Fiora
- Haste
- Double Attack
- Aggro Down
- Strength Up
- Agility Up
Our final entry in this article is without a doubt the most simple of them all. Fiora and her kit focuses entirely around dealing damage and maximising her auto attacks, so we’re looking to buff that up in any way possible. Haste and Double Attack are the obvious additions, especially once her optional skill trees are unlocked in the late game, and Strength Up along with Agility Up will ensure that she’s accurately hitting for the maximum amount each time. All of this being the case and even with your tanks loaded with Aggro Up gems, Aggro Down is absolutely essential on Fiora. As you approach the absolute end game, both she and Melia will separate themselves from the pack when it comes to damage, to the point where even your best tank will struggle to keep up, and the last thing you need is your squishy damage dealing taking a super elite hit to the face.
More Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition…
100% Completion Infographic | Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
We’re visiting one of our favourite games next in our completion series, that of Xenoblade Chronicles. We’ve spent altogether far too much time with this game, spanning countless years of our lives. It’s inception on the Nintendo Wii was a revelation to us, opening our eyes to just how impressive open worlds can be, especially…
Party Member Tier List | Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
Creating a Tier List around the party members of Xenoblade Chronicles is a particularly difficult thing. We have already written about the 5 that we think are the best in the game, but where do you put the break points? Where do you separate those considered the absolute best of the best, and those that…
6 Fantastic Grinding Spots | Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
Look, we both know that grinding isn’t strictly necessary in an RPG game, especially Xenoblade Chronicles, but that’s not why we do it. We love a minimum level challenge as much as the next player, but there is something very appealing to having that overpowered feel throughout a game, especially one dotted with challenging, elite…
Categories: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition