Xenoblade Chronicles X features a surprising amount of game-breaking tricks, to the point that it can render nearly all challenges moot if one knows what they're doing.
- The Drifter Class, once all skills have been maximized. Having that extra 5th Skill Slot that no other class does not have will tremendously change your character for the better. See the list below for all of the combinations possible.
- The Enforcer Class line, with the Psycorruptor and Mastermind classes in specific coming to mind. Their stats and weapons may be lackluster compared to the other job classes, but the advanced Arts and Skills they learn more than make up for it.note
- Want a dedicated group healer? Learn Irina's Smooth Recovery Art, or Astral Horizon + Astral Heal, and you'll rarely need to bother with Soul Voice challenges again, except for building affinity.
- Brainjack to Servant Sacrifice enables you to insta-kill virtually any non-boss/non-Tyrant enemy
and receive up to 50% HP + TP at the same time. Which can be supplemented by the King's Decree Skill. Even if Servant Sacrifice misses, the enemy is still rendered immobile until Brainjack wears off. - And finally, at max level, Black Bane damage scales for an additional 300% per debuff the victim has. Five or more debuffs is enough for Black Bane to to lop off anywhere from half to nearly two-thirds of the target's HP in one hit. And since it's an ether Art, you can further increase its power with Ether Attack Plus XX augments.
- The Overdrive mechanic as a whole, when properly setup. What is even greater is that you can reserve Overdrive for bosses. See below.
- Ground-based Overdrive creates a lot of multipliers that can easily overpower just about any enemy, even superbosses. You can setup the Overdrive mechanic very early in the game and deliver game-breaking results, though it's generally easier to put off in later chapters when you have more resources. Someeven prefer this method to defeat the optional bosses over Skells due to those reasons, in addition to not having to risk getting a Skell destroyed.
- Skell Overdrive, while not as busted as ground-based Overdrivenote , nonetheless grants you much higher chances of triggering Cockpit Time, which makes you invincible to damage for several seconds.
- Three TP Gain XX augments. When you use an Art, your TP will increase by 200+ for each augment you have equipped. With three of these equipped, even Arts where you'd normally lose TP will have you gain more than you spend. With these augments, you'll be able to spam Overdrives and normally cooldown-heavy Arts for days and become an invincible apocalyptic force of destruction.
- The Ether Blossom Dance build takes the above and puts it into Overdrive. Ether Blossom Dance is a build that combines the Dual Gunner class with the basic Swordsman class to create a Nigh-Invulnerable Lightning Bruiser that would make Dunban proud. There is a skill called Core Crusher that gives a huge damage buff to Ether attacks when targeting an enemy's appendage. Blossom Dance is a weapon damage Art that takes on the element of the equipped weapon and bypasses any elemental resistances, so with an Ether longsword, it's treated as an Ether attack. Plus as a TP Art, it's boosted by the Potential stat. The Dual Gunner class has access to Arts that buff Ether and TP, on top of Ghostwalker to grant yourself Decoy, which is game-breaking in its own right since it makes every attack that hits you miss for a short while. If you're going up against anything that reflects Ether, just slap on a Nullify Ether Reflect XX augment for them. By using this with the three TP Gain XX above to Overdrive spam, this set is capable of taking out enemies that were only thought possible to defeat with a Skell, and is even better than Skells in that regard!
- For those who don't want to run the Ether Blossom Dance build, there's also the combination of Potential Up XX + Ghostwalker that's just as good as the former build by using the dual gun setup, as shown here. (Feel free to just skip to 6:51.) Any build with Ghostwalker abuse can be broken.
- Too early to do Ether Blossom Dance builds? Last Stand Ramjet Rifle is there for you. The Ramjet Rifle is a normally Scrappy Weapon assault rifle with horrid stats, but with the incredibly redeeming quality of giving you 300 TP per shot (with 3 shots). Last Stand is the last Art in the Duelist class, a pretty mediocre class otherwise. Once you're at level 5, Last Stand takes off 1000 TP from you to grant everyone else 2000 TP. Combine the two, and you're giving every other party member a constant flow of TP for their own Arts while building up your own TP rapidly before launching Overdrive to spam this method even more. The main drawback with this build is completely destroying your ranged damage... which doesn't matter that much anyways if you're playing support and/or have good melee Arts.
- The height and distance afforded by the game's sprint jump physics allows you to reach areas that're meant to be accessible only by flight; effectively allowing you to reach late game areas early. Once you get the hang of it, you'll find yourself trying it everywhere just to see what out of the way bluffs (and treasures) you can reach next.
- Data Probes in general. Knowing how to maximize your probes to generate Miranium, stats, etc. will residually help you in the long run. Also, because it bases off the amount of time in your game, you can simply leave your Wii U on overnight and then wake up and save the monstrous amount of resources you generated. Upgrading Arms Manufacturer, buying fully upgraded armor, etc. would be no problem and allows you to be fully equipped to fight off much tougher enemies at lower levels, which we will get to on Skells...
- The Skells themselves. There's a very good reason why the game holds off for so long on giving you one after completing Chapter 6, as once you do get one, you have very little reason to ever leave it again outside of situations where you flat-out can't take it with you. Any enemies that weren't designed with Skells in mind become complete Curb Stomp Battles for your team, which a shocking amount of the story bosses aren't. Even the basic, level 20 model you start out with can curb stomp any small enemy with ease that isn't level 40 and up, and even take on level 30 or so bigger enemies rather easily with a well-leveled party for support. The fuel mechanic that's supposed to balance them almost never runs out unless you go out of your way to do so, and even then it's easy to refuel them at the base since the miranium needed isn't a lot. And outside of battle, their mobility and speed are a godsend in navigating the huge world, and once the flight ability is unlocked, there's nothing holding you down. Even with Skell Insurance in mind and being outclassed by Ether Blossom Dance upon entering the postgame, Skells can still be uber-powerful tools when setup right.
- To really kick it up a notch in breaking the game, combine mass data probing (see above) and traveling almost every area with your newly beginner Skell. Given that you don't approach very dangerous areas recklessly, you can run and explore as much of Mira with your Skell as possible; you gain a lot of experience doing so to the point that you will hit Level 30, which is enough to buy you a Level 30 Skell and upgrade as much as possible. Then, you can level up your other characters to reach level 30 so that they can get Skells upgraded as much as possible. You can then have 4 Level 30 Skells take on very powerful enemies that are Level 55 or higher. A big example to quick leveling up would be FN Site 322; fight enemies like Rebel Kaizer Qmoeva from behind and gang up on it 4-on-1; then recharge and fight another enemy alone. You should quickly reach Level 50 to get even better Skells. By this point, you should be able to complete the rest of the chapters in the main game and hopefully max out some classes in the process.
- Then there is Skell Gear.
- There's a level 30+ weapon Skells can equip called the G-Buster. It's pricey but well worth it to purchase. Why? Because, against most normal enemies, this thing can usually knock off half to near half of their health when used, as well as deal a large chunk of damage against most bosses. If that's not enough, it often inflicts Stagger, which, for larger enemies, opens up a nice window to bind them and make them vulnerable to other attacks. Give each Skell one of these babies and watch as your team tears through the enemies HP. The Verus Skell frame also comes with a level thirty version of it which still has no problems taking off large chunks of health off of enemies HP. The only real drawback it has is having a very long cool down and fuel consumption and even then it doesn't matter too much when it can be used to make battles against normal enemies take almost no time at all and the Skells having a mechanic which makes all arts usable again despite how much cool down time was left, as well as the generous amounts of Miranium one can acquire in the game and the ability to refuel when binding a giant (which is often the result of a G-Buster attack).
- The G2 variant is slightly weaker, but far more effective because it's the game's only mid-ranged melee weapon and it's the only melee weapon that has AoE. In addition, it hits all enemies within its range twice, giving it a much higher chance to inflict stagger and criticals at the same time.
- An alternative option is the M-Sniper. The Mastema Skell starts off with it, and there will be little need to replace it (except with the G-Buster above). It deals a good amount of damage in its own right, and is more capable of inflicting topple on enemies.
- The Meredith M-Missiles are absolutely devastating against appendages; they target all the appendages on a target, even the ones that a Skell can't normally target. Combined with a ton of appendage crushing augments, and it's easy to see why they're essential for grinding tickets off the Global Nemesis. In addition, every enemy appendage broken by a Skell grants a not-insignificant amount of fuel, meaning you'll never have to buy fuel with miranium again.
- The Phoenix Wings are the go-to weapon when it comes to destroying multiple targets. Push the button and watch nearby enemies get launched away, if not killed outright!
- The Lailah line of Skells is rather famous for its Nigh-Invulnerability. Its Overdrive increases its defense to sky-high levels, allows it to regen health while in Overdrive, makes it immune to debuffs, and doesn't use any fuel while in Overdrive. Give it a lot of weapons to increase TP quickly and a few attribute resist augments, and you have a Skell that'll never die. Another bonus is the line also has crazy high accuracy on its weapons, so even if an enemy puts up an evasion spike, it'll still be able to hit them with little problem. It's so crazy that it's been proven that even the level 30 version is capable of soloing Telethia, the Endbringer.
- Meanwhile, the Mastema line is blessed with excellent ranged attack, and there's a physical-attribute ranged superweapon called the EM Zenith Cannon that ignores enemy resistances. Level 60 versions of both, combined with as much ranged and physical-boosting equipment as possible, result in a machine that can even punch through ultrafauna in only two or three hits. The aforementioned M-Missiles — which also run off the Mastema's superior ranged stats — can be added to make the cannon's extreme fuel consumption a complete non-issue.
- Naturally, the game's Infinity +1 Sword, the Antimatter-R Skell superweapon. Against the toughest Tyrants, it will take off a quarter of their health at the very least, and outright slaughter anything else (in the general area). Best of all, it only takes up the two back slots, leaving you with space for some normal weapons (like those Merideth missiles) for lesser foes or parts grinding.
- The Diskbombs take advantage of a glitch to turn them into handheld weapons of mass destruction. These sidearms fire three little projectiles in each volley. One potential built-in augment for salvaged Diskbombs is Custom.MSL-MAG, an augment that increases the number of shots missile-based weapons fire at the cost of reducing their damage. On Diskbombs, the bonus is applied to each individual missile. So with a rank I Custom.MSL-MAG, instead of firing four bombs in a single auto-attack, the weapon fires six. With a rank IX or X augment? Macross Missile Massacre doesn't even begin to describe it. But it doesn't end there. If you equip another Diskbomb in the right sidearm slot and the Diskbomb with Custom.MSL-MAG and/or has been modified with an augment(s) for the aforementioned effect in the left (not vice-versa, as the boost will not apply but the penalty will)... the right Diskbomb inherits the boost, without the damage penalty. The end result is a pair of sidearms that can out-damage most Skell weapons and build up GP with ease.
- There's a level 30+ weapon Skells can equip called the G-Buster. It's pricey but well worth it to purchase. Why? Because, against most normal enemies, this thing can usually knock off half to near half of their health when used, as well as deal a large chunk of damage against most bosses. If that's not enough, it often inflicts Stagger, which, for larger enemies, opens up a nice window to bind them and make them vulnerable to other attacks. Give each Skell one of these babies and watch as your team tears through the enemies HP. The Verus Skell frame also comes with a level thirty version of it which still has no problems taking off large chunks of health off of enemies HP. The only real drawback it has is having a very long cool down and fuel consumption and even then it doesn't matter too much when it can be used to make battles against normal enemies take almost no time at all and the Skells having a mechanic which makes all arts usable again despite how much cool down time was left, as well as the generous amounts of Miranium one can acquire in the game and the ability to refuel when binding a giant (which is often the result of a G-Buster attack).
- Last Stand allows you to feed your party 2,000 TP apiece. During secondary and tertiary cooldown, it can be used back-to-back. Having two or more active party members with Last Stand sets up a feedback loop that easily allows you to maintain TP for reviving teammates and Overdrive indefinitely.
- One can also use the Ramjet Rifle in conjunction with Last Stand, as explained earlier, since the Ramjet's auto attack is more than enough to fill up TP for both it and Overdrive.
- Astral Protection is an aura available by using Psycho Launchers, that boost your resistances. With the proper armor and augment set-up, you will survive any of the superbosses' attacks, with barely any necessary healing.
- Afterburner is extremely deadly when used with Overdrive. Charged up to the maximum limit, it can go beyond decimating even the largest enemies with ease, and it can affect multiple enemies in the attack's range.
- Core Crusher is a skill that makes any ether-based attack deal more damage, at the cost of not being able to break appendages. Core Crusher, unlike other skills, is an independent multiplier that multiplies overall damage instead of being additive like the similar Ether Boost, which is affected by overall modifiers. No other attribute has such a bonus. If that wasn't enough, there's the Appendage Crusher augment, which increases damage dealt to appendages. This gives ether such a massive advantage that nearly any weapon that isn't ether-based might as well not exist.
