Boss battles remain a staple for JRPGs since they offer fun, test your skills, and prepare you for the next story beat. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 follows the trend of JRPGs before it, but those boss battles can pose challenges and stop you from progressing.

Related: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: How to Level Classes Quickly

Since Xenoblade Chronicles 3 offers a compelling story with the bosses marking some of the biggest twists, you may become frustrated if you can't get past one of them. However, you can make it easier by planning and preparing yourself for these fights. As you improve your team and take advantage of the game's systems, you'll make it past those difficult moments.

Level Up And Use Bonus EXP

A few levels can make a difference in whether you succeed or fail. If you start a boss fight and find out they have a few levels on you, go level up. If you want a balance in difficulty, you should aim for the same level as the boss. Try and get yourself about three or four levels above the boss if you find the battle difficult.

People don't want to grind when they play games, so see if you have any bonus EXP. You can go to any rest spot with a weight icon. The training lets you use the bonus EXP you collected from quests to level up your characters. Go to the training menu, pick a character, and use the experience to increase their level.

Don't click the "Level Up All" button if you don't want to use all your bonus EXP. Choosing that option will cause all your party members to level up to their max levels. Doing so could cause you to become over-leveled to the point where the game becomes too easy.

Adjust Your Classes And Equipment

As you go through the game and unlock different classes, you'll need to customize your party to tackle bosses. Doing so will involve balancing your team, picking an ideal hero, and adjusting your equipment.

Balance Your Party

Start by creating a balanced party for the boss fight. For example, you may like to use four attackers, one defender, and one healer during standard fights, but that could lead to a loss when you deal with harder foes.

If you have an unbalanced party, change it before the boss fight. For most boss fights, you'll want two attackers, two defenders, and two healers. If your defenders can't maintain the aggro, swap a fighter for a tank. If your team doesn't heal enough, switch an attacker for a healer. The fight will take longer, but you must focus on survival when it comes to bosses, so always switch a damage dealer for someone who can support the team.

Pick The Ideal Hero

Balancing your party involves picking an ideal hero for your team. You can try the boss fight with whichever guest member you want, but pay attention during the battle. If you lose, you should think about why you lost and pick your hero's role based on that point.

For example, if your attackers and healers kept building aggro, you may need Zeon, a solid defender who has multiple taunts. If your defenders keep dying, you can pick Valdi who has great healing arts while providing you with an additional reviver. If you don't deal enough damage, you can use Gray, an attacker who doesn't need tanks to turn the boss's attention away from him.

The best hero depends on the fight. See where your party currently falls short, so you can pick whichever you feel will help your party the most.

Adjust Your Equipment

Equipment plays a role in your party succeeding. If your party faces problems, you should adjust your accessories and gems. For example, you have rings that reduce the amount of aggro your party gains from healing arts, so they work great for healers. You also have equipment to resist specific status effects if the boss applies them, such as amulets to resist bind.

Gems boost your stats to help you in fights. For example, if the boss keeps dodging your attacks, equip Accurate Grace to increase your dexterity. You should also give your healers Lifesaving Expertise to make them resurrect your downed teammates faster. Defenders could benefit from Brimming Spirit to increase the aggro they gain from arts. Look through your current gems and equip whichever ones you feel will work for the boss fight.

Manage Your Aggro

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has your party draw aggro in three key ways: damaging enemies, healing teammates, and using taunting arts. You want your defenders to draw the attention of the boss, so they don't knock out your teammates. You should react differently depending on the role of your current character.

You can switch characters by holding down ZL and pressing either L or R. If you need to lower the aggro of an attacker or healer, switch to them to get them to stop acting. You can switch to a defender if you want them to spam taunting arts.

Use Ouroboros Forms

Each of your teammates has an Ouroboros form they can use by combining with another party member. While each form can deal damage, they have different roles to help the rest of your party.

You can use them offensively or defensively. The Ouroboros forms charge with time and can go up to level three. If you use them during level three, you can deal more damage.

The pair that transforms also doesn't take damage, so you can have someone low on health transform right before a powerful attack. Once the attack ends, you can cancel out of it and use it during the next powerful attack.

Strategize With Chain Attacks

Previous games in the series required you to use some of your chain attack gauge to revive party members. However, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 removed that mechanic. That means as soon as your meter fills, you can use it to attack the boss. These types of attacks give you a chance to deal tons of damage, so you can use different strategies with this ability.

Overcoming The Second Form

Most bosses have a second stage indicated by an icon on their health bar. Once they enter that form, they gain more attacks and deal more damage. You can use your chain attack as soon as the boss enters the form or right before it starts. Doing so will minimize how much time you have to fight them in that stage.

Using Chain Attacks Defensively

You can use your chain attacks to protect yourself from bosses. If you look at the health bar, you'll see the boss's name on it. Sometimes, that area will display the name of a special attack the boss plans to use. If you know an upcoming move will knock out some of your teammates, you can initiate your special right before the attack activates.

Doing so will prevent the boss's damage from going through, so you can keep all your teammates alive. You can then use your healers during one of the stages to heal your teammates If the boss targets an attacker or healer, you can use different orders to lower their aggro. For example, Lanz's Tyrant Wave increases defender aggro while Mio's Lightning Quick reduces the aggro of healers and attackers.

Using Breaks During The Chain Attack

Chain attacks make it easier for you to use breaks on bosses. They usually resist the effect, so you can't topple them. However, their resistance drops during a chain attack, so you can knock them over. You can even interrupt powerful attacks to protect your party, so you'll have to apply the effects in a specific order.

• Use an art with the break effect.
• Once you apply break, use topple.
• From topple, you can use either daze or launch.
• Use burst after daze or smash after launch.

As you apply those steps, you can incapacitate the boss temporarily if they're in topple, daze, or launch. You can also use burst or smash if you want to inflict tons of damage, but they'll no longer be incapacitated.

The boss fights in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 require planning and preparation to succeed. As you spend time planning out the details and using the combat system to your advantage, you'll defeat those bosses who gave you trouble.

Next: Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Complete Guide