Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Tactics Menu Guide

The combat mechanics of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are incredibly deep and complicated. There are multiple combat systems and features that...

The combat mechanics of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are incredibly deep and complicated. There are multiple combat systems and features that make up every single battle in the game.

Furthermore, Xenoblade 3 does not take any time to throw all of those systems and features at players in the opening hours. Hence, newcomers to the franchise are likely going to be taken by surprise as they try to make sense of everything that is happening around them.

One combat system that this guide will look to unravel is the Tactics menu, which gets introduced early on in the game. Compared to the other combat systems, the Tactics menu is actually pretty straightforward. That being said, newcomers are likely going to still want to know how to use the Tactics menu correctly and if they should be using it at all.

The following guide will hence explain all there is to know about the Tactics menu in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

How To Use Tactics Menu

The Tactics menu basically features a bunch of combat options that you can order your party during battles. You can open the Tactics menu (only during battles) by holding the “ZL” button and then using the D-Pad to select a tactic for your party.

There are four tactics available for you to choose from.

Focus Attacks

Your main goal during a battle will often be to eliminate each enemy one by one instead of spreading your damage across all enemies. Focusing Attacks, hence, allows you to target all of your damage on a single enemy.

Select the smaller or squishy enemy on the battlefield and then open up your Tactics menu to click Focusing Attacks. This will have all of your party members focus their attacks on that same target. Sometimes you may also want to kill the enemy healer at the start to ensure a quick victory.

The party members will concentrate their attacks on the target enemy that you are targeting. The goal is to defeat the Enemy one by one to make the battle a lot easier, so make good use of it.

Follow Leader

This one is also very crucial as it will command all your troops to follow you wherever you go. Even if you are far away, your troops will follow you. This can be an advantage in three ways.

The first one is that you can assemble your troops in one place and then attack an enemy together. You can also call them together for the purpose of healing. Since there is a radius of healing, you can call your troops within the circle to have everyone healed.

Finally, you can ask your party members to follow you, the leader, if the enemy is about to do a massive area-of-effect attack. Calling all of your troops to your location would help them escape that AoE attack.

It is important to note that your party members will lose the ability to attack as long as they are following the leader.

Any Combo

You can choose the kind of combo you want. You have three choices: any kind of combo, a Smash combo, and a Burst combo.

The intended attacks have a sequence of Break, Topple, Launch and then Smash whereas the Burst combo comprises of Break, Topple, Daze, and finally Burst.

Fusion First

This is a strategy where you use a combination of master arts and combat arts. The only problem is that you need to charge these attacks first without being interrupted.

By selecting Fusion First from the Tactics menu, your party members will focus on charging their Fusion Arts attacks. This also means that they will be a little less useful on the battlefield, at least until their Fusions Arts are charged.

This usually takes some time but if you use the Fusion First strategy, your party members will give first preference to making fusion and it will be ready in less time.

Avatar photo

Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...