Catalyst Scimitar is probably the best written character in the entire franchise. When all of the party is down, and Catalyst Scimitar hobbles up and tells Sephiroth that they won't give in, it's truly such a powerful moment. What an absolutely great character, thanks for doing a tutorial on it!
Fun fact: for one of her affinity unlocks, you have to fall from a very tall height and survive. You can only do so if you land in the cloud sea (or water) because otherwise you would die. This is a callback to when the party first arrives in Fonsett Village and Nia talks about how she would never jump into the cloud sea like the kids were doing. Rex tried to get her to try it, but she declined. Now that she is Rex's blade, Nia trusts Rex enough to jump from that height. I just thought that was neat foreshadowing/character development.
A thing to note, the reason all her skills are healing oriented is because of the story. Remember, she is so proficient at healing that she can weaponize cancer, and brought a dead Niall back to life.
Right. The two examples you gave show that she should be able to: - actually deal a lot of damage - revive without using up a bar of the party guage Either one of those would take her from pretty much objectively suboptimal to possibly useful in some niche builds. The latter would make her absolutely busted in a non-optimized environment like a first playthrough, which she should be, considering how late in the story she appears and how powerful she canonically is.
Still a bit of a shame tbh cause i love Nia as a character yet her driver is probably the weakest of the 5 and her blade form just isnt that great come endgame. She was my mvp through the story but once you start getting crit healing or blades like KosMos and Corvin that can team heal then she loses her value. Even Crossette is better on Zeke
@@fishnutz5196 I wonder why they don't have blade nia focus on getting tons and tons of damage from her specials, like a faster and better Poppi buster with higher damage caps, especially on Nixon Buster. She could also have a pretty good break art on her slash and get more powerful from collecting potions. She doesn't have to be as broken as Kosmos and Corvin, but being around b-tier would make her stupidly fun and worth the use.
it's a shame Catalyst Scimitar doesn't have more availability. if they were able to be equipped, on say, Nia for example, they could have been much better
Nia’s blade form is amazing, she’s one of my favorite characters and I love having her on my team. When she shouts “THIS WILL BE AWESOME!” during a blade combo, it just makes my day. :)
I was absolutely in love with her when I hit that point in the story. Her look, her character development, her story powers. Everything about her is so awesome, it's a shame they overloaded her on healing so much. Finch when?
That's actually her Level 4 Special. If you pay attention, the animations match up pretty well. Have fun giving cancer to just any random enemy you come across!
Also I have a theory about flesh eaters so as we know nia and jin are the only flesh eaters with special powers and I think it's the bound with the person who's flesh they eat.
In story it wasnt really needed to be used again except maybe Amalthus. Malos was clearly immune to it. And yeah level 4 special is exactly that attack. The description of it confirms it 100% by saying "destroy enemies from the inside"
I've always thought it was really cool that many Xenoblade fans/content creators are very respectful of spoilers. Even 3 years after this game came out, and like 10 for Xenoblade 1, both Catalyst Scimitar and Seven are kept under wraps for new fans.
The virgin "if it's been a year it's not a spoiler" vs the chad "let's not spoil this 12 yo game so that new players can have a better experience with this game"
The way I'd personally fix it is, not only that, but changing Cell Stim to an effect that restores 0.5%-3% (based on skill rank) of damage dealt in healing from all of Scimitar's damage output, but to the whole party. Then toss out Instant Regen, and change it with something else. The High HP damage skill would be very complementary.
@@kathrynrovito6855 let's see, Nia's crit rate is super low, so there's no use modifying that... maybe we could replace it with a party buff (kindalike Haze from Torna) The party buff's that immediately come to mind are a party damage increase at max affinity (just a small one) or a total party defense increase at max affinity (let's see... maybe 12% to 50%??)
@@thisimagelooksslightlybett1020 Perhaps not as high as 50%, but maybe instead of reducing damage, the healing effects and damage being increased. This would synergize with her new Cell Stem from my old comment incredibly well, since not only would the damage of her arts and specials get a damage buff, but the healing they give via Cell would also get increased farther, while she's at max affinity. Perhaps 10%-25% increase would be appropriate. You could increase the damage buff farther here if you wanted to make her more competitive with high-end damage blades, but I think it's a slippery slope to buff it farther since we'd be double dipping damage and healing with this idea, and it would buff the whole party's danage which is powerful Another thing I see a lot is people wanting Nia to be able to Break, since driver Nia can break with rings, cannons and bitballs. Thus, instead of another party buff you could make Hydro Blast an AoE Break instead of a Knockback art, and give her skill tree a reduced enemy break resist so it's more likely to work against enemies with higher resistance to break
I always thought it was shame that after seeing that Malos cancer scene Nia wasn't given a skill that converted heals to damage. Suddenly that full party heal art is doing 30k damage.
@@maagic2031 That could synergize very well with her healing Specials. Suddenly her level 3 damages, heals your party, then damages again equal to the healing you received. Could be very beneficial for her viability!
Idea to make Nia stronger: turn instant regen into a skill that takes a percentage of all healing Nia does and uses it as spike damage instantly dealt to the enemy. Is this broken?? Probably, and would turn her level three special into something absolutely ridiculous, but it fits with her canon skillset.
Thanks for the thumbnail. I've gotten so many things spoiled for me over the years due to thumbnails, and even thought I already completed the game it still makes me happy to see a non-spoilery thumbnail. I'm sure you've saved a few people from being spoiled on the most infuriating cutscene in the game. Thank you enel.
BIG OLE SPOILER PIE BELOW I really wish I used her on my first playthrough. She's clearly meant to substitute for Pyra and Mythra during chapter 7 but I thought I'd be missing out on a healer, so I didn't bother. Boy that Malos fight was a pain... Nia is a very good blade that I like a lot, but I rarely use her because I'd rather be using driver Nia with blades like Crossette. Having Rex play the healer is definitely unconventional, but I can't say it doesn't work. A recent favourite setup of mine has been Rex with Nia and Boreas for healing, and then Obrona for some damage dealing. Definitely a great blade, just one I don't use often.
Damage? What damage? XD Ultimately, I'm a tad disappointed with how she's implemented in gameplay. There's pretty much no overlap between her two forms beyond her high Ether stat. Probably the most disappointing aspect is the fact that she gives a 15% HP mod to Rex, but her hidden affinity chart only gives a 10% HP mod to herself. It would have been trivial to make the two the same just to provide that extra little reference. As for her combination specials with Pyra, I understand that they're both important to Rex, but I think I'd actually prefer a combination between her and Dromarch simply because she's actually his Driver on top of being a Blade herself. Something that would take more work, but wouldn't require new animations, would be receiving the effects of both her aux cores _and_ her accessories at the same time, which could potentially get very ridiculous. Lastly, there's being able to effectively just activate TGC-style and have Nia switch to Blade mode on the fly in the middle of battle, likely with using her Specials as her new Driver Arts. Really there are just so many ways they could have integrated her two forms more closely and I really wish there were more ways that her status in one mode would affect the other. I haven't even mentioned yet the fact that she has so many sources of Break for herself and yet doesn't give one to Rex. I'll still continue to use her in Blade mode though no only because she's Best Girl, but also because doing so basically lets you control 2 Drivers at the same time and have 4 of your 5 party members on the field instead of just 3.
Letting Nia act TGC style is what I dreamed of when I saw the truth and I was heartbroken that she can never be her true form and be played as at the same time c':
I wish Nia had a Break art. Rex doesn't get a lot of those and I was using driver Nia for Break throughout most of my playthrough (didn't get QTpi until my NG+ run) so I never saw a reason to use her as a Blade.
He gets Break arts from lances and katanas, and those are some of his best weapon types already. Personally I'd have preferred a Launch art since I really hate using axes on him.
Nah, he needs another topple art, i was browsing through rexs moveset and he had 1 topple art. I get pyra mythra are pretty good, but its hard to setup specific fusions or get him to primarily use a different blade like dagas while tryin to use zeke for crossette spam because during the blade combo he swaps to pyra instead of changing to dagas. That or tora should have had a topple on QT pi (lol)
I remember the first time I got her and had a blast using her and figuring out how she worked. She's my favorite XC2 character too so I'm really glad you finally got around to covering her!
Would have been dope had her middle skill given her a huge damage boost to the party while HP is high, like 200%ish, considering her role in the story. Would make her skillset much more important.
I think the title is hilarious and tragic because that scimitar is the catalyst for the Rex x Aegis relationship development, and its reward is getting friend-zoned even harder than Melia. XD
At least she got some solace with the final version of the title screen indicating she becomes part of the harem. Melia never got that, though she did eventually get some nice closure of other sorts.
just incase you were not aware, though the thumbnail avoids spoilers, hovering over enough to get the gif preview does spoil the character in question. Not an actual complaint, but should be known before someone who cares complains.
Yeah I really wish there was a way to choose whether that happens or not like pressing a specific part of a thumbnail or something it just makes scrolling through videos more difficult than it needs to be since now you have to worry about a video starting to play if you linger on it too much (I don’t know maybe that’s only an annoyance for me)
Genuinely surprised that even with the dlc and new game plus bonuses added over the years she still isn’t able to drive herself like other flesh eaters seen in the story or have a costume where she can use her blade appearance as a driver
Honestly, having aggro on Nia isn’t all that big of a deal, since she has absurdly effective and rapid healing, unless you get one shot, you will quickly recover whatever health you lost. I have MAX Affinity ATK and Barrier, but instead of Art Stealth, I have Ultimate Shield.
I used her alongside Pneuma throughout the entire rest of the game, and that's about how long the novelty of being mostly unkillable lasted. Decided playing Nia isn't a lot of fun. Passive healing is great, but when all you're good for is healing and the healing happens automatically, then what are you really even doing? I so wish they'd made her more interesting to play... Even if they didn't want to give her more damage, she could've had more support options. Or, based on the cutscene where she attacked Malos by messing with the water in his cells somehow, she could've had a natural DoT effect on any enemies she's in combat with. And it could scale up with affinity, or the amount of damage she's dealt, or something. Anything to give her more to her kit then just...healing.
Nia may be good as a blade, but using her that way is a significant restriction on party composition due to it taking away a possible driver, even worse being that it's the one who specializes in inflicting Break. *Proceeds to send Nia on merc missions in NG+*
I'm not even a huge Nia fan and I feel like they could've made her absolutely broken for a pre-dlc blade because it fits pretty well thematically. Also at 10:24 I had to do a double take since you said driver combo but you meant blade combo
I get that chaos scimitar is supposed to be super safe so people can complete chapter 7 more easily. But I would have preferred if she got a zeke treatment as well during the dlc that let her lose because she realizes that rex isn't a pushover who needs to be bottle fed.
I really needed this vid. I was so lost trying to enjoy the blades the story _tries_ to push on you in my current re-re-re-replay. My response to everything in my first play was "lol scary bugman go smash."
What I find hilarious about the codenames is the wiki literally listing the characters that are unavailable in NG+ when a specific blade is sent out on a merc mission and it is like "Nia is unavailable when Catalyst is sent out". Since that makes no sense to anyone who has even played like 30 minutes of this game since she would always have other blades even if a new one she got in the late game went MiA, the only conclusion one could draw is that she is Catalyst. It literally misses the woods for the trees.
Yo Enel, long time fan of the channel! I've always loved xc2 but I never really got into the challenge mode aspect of it. I'm tryna get into it right now but I'm super lost on general setups for blades and team comps as well as general strategies. I'd really appreciate it if you made a video going over these things in a "Guide to Challenge Mode" video. I'm sure a lot of other people would appreciate this sorta video. Thanks
Nia and Ursula were two of my favorite Blades to use during my first run (currently on ng+ and I miss her so much). Funny enough, I didn't really rely on Nia as a Driver because of Xenoblade Chronicle's impact on me. As amazing characters Sharla and Melia are-Melia especially-their AI left much to be desired when it came to keeping the party alive (mainly pointing at Sharla here). So I would almost always take control of Sharla and take the role as Healer because MAN if I weren't in control. Now onto XC2, I quickly latched onto Ursula for her healing capabilities, and she basically carried me through a large chunk of the game. And then I got Nia. After that point, my team was set. Pyra/Mythra for damage, and Nia and Ursula for keeping the party alive because DANG I couldn't trust anyone else to heal me.
I think I know why the healing abilities that only affect Rex are there, and seem kind of overkill, and it's because of story reasons, no? I mean, she has strong feelings for Rex, and thus doesn't want him to be hurt at all, right? So while it makes no mechanical sense, I think this is a case of mechanical storytelling. So I am totally okay with her being a niche blade type with no real uses aside from 'I like her so I use her'.
My Rex is rocking Pyra, "Catalyst", and Roc. He's truly overpowered! Ok, jokes aside, I always tend to have characters in games outfitted in the most "in character" way as possible, and, for Rex, this seems to be his most "in character" setup. Pyra cause he seems to like that form more, "Catalyst" is a good friend of his, and Roc is to honor the memory of Vandam (plus Rex being the new Merc Boss and all).
Honestly, I still use Catalyst in a pinch because she can have 50% block rate which extreme high for a healer. Also, Given Catalyst superpower is essentially nullifying damage with life orbs, having different affinity either erecting barriers or potentially nullifying status effects like shackle, shackle heal or stink would be great.Also, sh eshould have alot of accessory slots because spoilers.
Thank you for make the titles spoilerfree xD Coming to think of it, while it wouldn't be a guide on a blade technically, it would be an interesting topic to showcase what skills are the best for common blades and how you can use them. I guess though you already made good videos covering these topics already.
Favorite Blade, Best healing blade, Favorite healing blade, Best Blade. Actually wish though it had a skill similar to what it did to a particular enemy though.
You know I honestly thought and I could have had some pretty good potential if they gave her a bit more damage like for as much she heals more damage she deals. Or if you manage to heal the enemy and get the enemy to 100% health you'll stun them or paralyze them, or instantly kill them. Pretty cool concept. I also feel like they should have made some changes to roc but that's for another day. An example would changing his element from wind to dark.
Your videos have been so helpful to me, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the combat thanks to your work. With that said, there is still one thing that I’ve struggled with. healing without a dedicated healer has proven to be very difficult for me but I see that you are able to do so just fine. I was wondering if in the late/post game you get access to accessories, AUX cores, etc that does allow you to heal without a healer? Edit: the spoiler warnings you have used throughout your videos have been very well done and it makes me happy to see the larger community treating spoilers with the care they need
I tried using Blade Nia during the first Malos fight. I used her heal art between Malos' arts, and while Rex was lifting his arms up, Malos used eater and killed Rex and Zeke. Redemption is such a long move I can use it before the enemy makes a move and I'm still doing the animation but not healing when the enemy does their attack. I no longer use Blade Nia.
Poor *spoiler blade*, they did not deserve the treatment they got from Rex in the story and the gameplay to an extent. I would change Cellular Stimulus to be able to overheal (give more hp than their current max is during battle, but once overhealed it can not do it again until your hp is back down to the normal amount). Instant regen would give a 35% chance to restore the parties hp by 5% after an art is used and a 2.5% from auto-attacks.
Oi, what are you doing watching this? Go finish Chapter 7 first, there be spoilers ahead! . . . . . That aside, we reach our resident healer's awakened form now! I always liked the twist on her being a flesh eater, because not only is it foreshadowed masterfully in the hotspring scene, but it also led to two of my favorite moments involving her character; one being Rex's reaction when she confesses to him (a peak Rex moment too, to be sure), the other being the first fight with Malos in Morytha; i just found it really clever that she messes with his cell regeneration and makes it go out of control, essentially giving Malos cancer. Of course it doesn't keep Malos long because he's borderline a god, but it's still a crazy way to weaponize healing. It's a shame that doesn't translate to her being a powerful blade. While she DID make for some safe fights, being safe doesn't contribute to getting a fight done quicker, not to mention the redundancy in her kit that could've been applied more strategically. To be fair I DO like healers, it's just that Xenoblade doesn't give them as much of a break because it loves having more efficient ways of doing the job healers have, not to mention making healers often overspecialize. Also I didn't really use Blade Nia that much because I got KOS-MOS on Driver Nia because of her high ether, and also hardly ever had a spot for a healer on Rex's team. That and I felt kind of weird only having 4 team members to choose from, even if Nia's not the best. Iunno, maybe I was spoiled by Xenoblade 1's options but I jut like having a touch more options in my parties than 4. Still pretty neat though.
Don't think of it has having to choose 3 drivers out of 4. Think of it as being able to include a 4th driver in addition to the 3 already out, so only 1 has to be left out!
Wanna know what's even better? The foreshadowing wasn't just at the hot spring. That was just the biggest and easiest one to spot. There was foreshadowing of Nia and her past all the way back in Gormott. (I was watching Chugga's LP, and a random townsperson had dialogue referring to her father.) The first cutscene that foreshadowed it was the big fight in Uraya.
I know it seems weird to be surprised that *Catalyst Scimitar* doesn’t do much damage and pretty much is only good for healing but considering that blades like fiora and crossette exists... yeah it’s pretty weird they made a blade that only heals and does like nothing else.
Good Guy Enel giving spoiler disclaimer for almost 3-year old game haha. Loving these Blade guides and content still being made for my favorite Switch game.
To be fair, if she's a Driver, then she just vanishes completely from the Blade List, so there's not much to remind you beyond an option to press Y, the Blade Album, and only a few story cutscenes and like 1 or 2 H2Hs.
![BRASIL vs. URUGUAY [1-1] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-hWBAuxF1eY/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact: This is the first blade showcase of an actual sword and not a character.
finally a guide on a sword
Smash fans are fumming
doing a guide on the junk sword would probably be a good April fools video
@@diatrigger6636
NEW HIDDEN TECH???
Junk Sword Tutorial
(Infinite damage)
@@EnelXC you should do more of these on weapons
Catalyst Scimitar is probably the best written character in the entire franchise. When all of the party is down, and Catalyst Scimitar hobbles up and tells Sephiroth that they won't give in, it's truly such a powerful moment. What an absolutely great character, thanks for doing a tutorial on it!
YOOOO BASED SHAYY?
Also hello Shayy Undertale
I didn't expect shayy to be here ether
what is shay undertale doing on a xenoblade vid
I felt like I just got flashbanged seeing Shayy Undertale under a Xenoblade 2 video.
Fun fact: for one of her affinity unlocks, you have to fall from a very tall height and survive. You can only do so if you land in the cloud sea (or water) because otherwise you would die. This is a callback to when the party first arrives in Fonsett Village and Nia talks about how she would never jump into the cloud sea like the kids were doing. Rex tried to get her to try it, but she declined. Now that she is Rex's blade, Nia trusts Rex enough to jump from that height. I just thought that was neat foreshadowing/character development.
"I love you, and all you guys!"
Trust Rank drops to F
**Uses Love Source
Trust Rank drops to Z
Big oof.
Funfact actually Nia Rex trust was S already
Those words dropped it 😂
Nia's out of rex's basic ass league. So banal
Well
A thing to note, the reason all her skills are healing oriented is because of the story. Remember, she is so proficient at healing that she can weaponize cancer, and brought a dead Niall back to life.
Right. The two examples you gave show that she should be able to:
- actually deal a lot of damage
- revive without using up a bar of the party guage
Either one of those would take her from pretty much objectively suboptimal to possibly useful in some niche builds. The latter would make her absolutely busted in a non-optimized environment like a first playthrough, which she should be, considering how late in the story she appears and how powerful she canonically is.
Still a bit of a shame tbh cause i love Nia as a character yet her driver is probably the weakest of the 5 and her blade form just isnt that great come endgame. She was my mvp through the story but once you start getting crit healing or blades like KosMos and Corvin that can team heal then she loses her value. Even Crossette is better on Zeke
Next is weaponized autism
@@fishnutz5196 I wonder why they don't have blade nia focus on getting tons and tons of damage from her specials, like a faster and better Poppi buster with higher damage caps, especially on Nixon Buster. She could also have a pretty good break art on her slash and get more powerful from collecting potions. She doesn't have to be as broken as Kosmos and Corvin, but being around b-tier would make her stupidly fun and worth the use.
Rex loves her, and all you guys
*Indeed*
Oh he loved all of them alright
Oh you have _no idea._
@@2yoyoyo1Unplugged Nah, I do. I've played Xenoblade 3.
Enel: *Tries to keep the video spoiler free.*
RUclips Preview Play: No.
it's a shame Catalyst Scimitar doesn't have more availability. if they were able to be equipped, on say, Nia for example, they could have been much better
I want someone to
Mod the game to put nia on nia
@@connorlego5229 running Mythra and Pyra's spirits on Mythra and Pyra in Smash Ultimate moment.
@@greenhunter473 you can put pyra and mythra spirits on the rex spirit
@@lizmiller7906 yeah I know. That's one of my main teams when I use Spirits on Pyra/Mythra.
@@connorlego5229 put it on Nia while she rides dromarch, then you have a real cat tower
“...and here, she hit damage cap with her one hit special, good for her.”
Elma:
Also Poppi:
How can you say she's not centered around damage, her hips are lethal to me.
Shakira has entered chat. :U
emmmm no, just watch Corvin, Elma, Poppi QTpi, T-ELOS, KOS-MOS, Fiora and Shulk damage and return to Nia
@@aegislight98
The joke
Your head
@@harrisonjohnson9792he’s like 5 or something
Can I just say that I like how her skills sound kind of science-y? It’s really cool relating to some other blades with different skill names.
Ah, I love this Blade. I love all the Blades!
The only missed opportunity here was that the thumbnail wasn't a silhouette of Captain Falcon
This comment is gold
Nia’s blade form is amazing, she’s one of my favorite characters and I love having her on my team. When she shouts “THIS WILL BE AWESOME!” during a blade combo, it just makes my day. :)
Especially when the announcer follows her up by confirming that it was indeed A W E S O M E.
who the fuck is blade nia? are you talking about catalyst scimitar?
I was absolutely in love with her when I hit that point in the story. Her look, her character development, her story powers. Everything about her is so awesome, it's a shame they overloaded her on healing so much.
Finch when?
So can we talk about how nia can just give people super cancer. I mean Jesus that's op and it's only used once on malos and never brought up again.
That's actually her Level 4 Special. If you pay attention, the animations match up pretty well.
Have fun giving cancer to just any random enemy you come across!
Also I have a theory about flesh eaters so as we know nia and jin are the only flesh eaters with special powers and I think it's the bound with the person who's flesh they eat.
In story it wasnt really needed to be used again except maybe Amalthus. Malos was clearly immune to it. And yeah level 4 special is exactly that attack. The description of it confirms it 100% by saying "destroy enemies from the inside"
@@jonmcknight18 makes perfect sense tbh. Also i would love to learn more about Blade Eaters like Zeke and his Eye of Shining Justice ability
@@fishnutz5196 I'm pretty sure the eye of shining justice is just meant to be an ascended joke that they made blade eater related on a whim.
I've always thought it was really cool that many Xenoblade fans/content creators are very respectful of spoilers. Even 3 years after this game came out, and like 10 for Xenoblade 1, both Catalyst Scimitar and Seven are kept under wraps for new fans.
The virgin "if it's been a year it's not a spoiler" vs the chad "let's not spoil this 12 yo game so that new players can have a better experience with this game"
@@oqo3310 ikr so many people don’t understand that people could never hear about a game until that 12 year mark
I've just recently started (and about to finish) xenoblade 2 and what I have to say is: Thank you so much! Really appreciated the lack of spoilers
Imagine... a damage reward for having 90% or more of your full health instead of the instant regen skill...
The way I'd personally fix it is, not only that, but changing Cell Stim to an effect that restores 0.5%-3% (based on skill rank) of damage dealt in healing from all of Scimitar's damage output, but to the whole party. Then toss out Instant Regen, and change it with something else. The High HP damage skill would be very complementary.
@@kathrynrovito6855 let's see, Nia's crit rate is super low, so there's no use modifying that... maybe we could replace it with a party buff (kindalike Haze from Torna)
The party buff's that immediately come to mind are a party damage increase at max affinity (just a small one) or a total party defense increase at max affinity (let's see... maybe 12% to 50%??)
@@thisimagelooksslightlybett1020 Perhaps not as high as 50%, but maybe instead of reducing damage, the healing effects and damage being increased. This would synergize with her new Cell Stem from my old comment incredibly well, since not only would the damage of her arts and specials get a damage buff, but the healing they give via Cell would also get increased farther, while she's at max affinity. Perhaps 10%-25% increase would be appropriate.
You could increase the damage buff farther here if you wanted to make her more competitive with high-end damage blades, but I think it's a slippery slope to buff it farther since we'd be double dipping damage and healing with this idea, and it would buff the whole party's danage which is powerful
Another thing I see a lot is people wanting Nia to be able to Break, since driver Nia can break with rings, cannons and bitballs. Thus, instead of another party buff you could make Hydro Blast an AoE Break instead of a Knockback art, and give her skill tree a reduced enemy break resist so it's more likely to work against enemies with higher resistance to break
I always thought it was shame that after seeing that Malos cancer scene Nia wasn't given a skill that converted heals to damage. Suddenly that full party heal art is doing 30k damage.
@@maagic2031 That could synergize very well with her healing Specials. Suddenly her level 3 damages, heals your party, then damages again equal to the healing you received. Could be very beneficial for her viability!
Should have been a heart to heart to discuss transfer of property allowing Rex to ride Dromarch.
I actually quite like Blade Nia. Cool design and I like the play style. However, end game is all about damage so sadly she is “better” as a driver
I feel the same way. Love the design, super cute, love the flowy clothing, but the damage output makes me sad. :(
I'd been good if she had a break art. Her niche was breaking as well as healing before, and her moveset as a blade should reflect that.
Idea to make Nia stronger: turn instant regen into a skill that takes a percentage of all healing Nia does and uses it as spike damage instantly dealt to the enemy. Is this broken?? Probably, and would turn her level three special into something absolutely ridiculous, but it fits with her canon skillset.
Thanks for the thumbnail. I've gotten so many things spoiled for me over the years due to thumbnails, and even thought I already completed the game it still makes me happy to see a non-spoilery thumbnail. I'm sure you've saved a few people from being spoiled on the most infuriating cutscene in the game. Thank you enel.
Enel is a legend when it comes to spoiler-free content. He did a similar thing with his guide on how to use Seven in XC:DE
@@Felixr2 Gotta love enel
Poor Nia. Not only does she lose to Pyra and Mythra in the story, she's also completely outclassed by them in gameplay.
How could you be more wrong...
Taste those words boi
Top 10 sentences that aged poorly.
Lmao this aged. . .badly. . .
hey I love this game so just wondering why is everyone saying that nia > mythra@@elisevanbeethoven
Guess we ain’t waiting for Chuggaaconroy to get to Ch 7 of his XC2 LP, eh?
BIG OLE SPOILER PIE BELOW
I really wish I used her on my first playthrough. She's clearly meant to substitute for Pyra and Mythra during chapter 7 but I thought I'd be missing out on a healer, so I didn't bother. Boy that Malos fight was a pain...
Nia is a very good blade that I like a lot, but I rarely use her because I'd rather be using driver Nia with blades like Crossette. Having Rex play the healer is definitely unconventional, but I can't say it doesn't work. A recent favourite setup of mine has been Rex with Nia and Boreas for healing, and then Obrona for some damage dealing. Definitely a great blade, just one I don't use often.
Might wanna edit out the showcased blade's name.
Damage? What damage? XD
Ultimately, I'm a tad disappointed with how she's implemented in gameplay. There's pretty much no overlap between her two forms beyond her high Ether stat. Probably the most disappointing aspect is the fact that she gives a 15% HP mod to Rex, but her hidden affinity chart only gives a 10% HP mod to herself. It would have been trivial to make the two the same just to provide that extra little reference. As for her combination specials with Pyra, I understand that they're both important to Rex, but I think I'd actually prefer a combination between her and Dromarch simply because she's actually his Driver on top of being a Blade herself. Something that would take more work, but wouldn't require new animations, would be receiving the effects of both her aux cores _and_ her accessories at the same time, which could potentially get very ridiculous. Lastly, there's being able to effectively just activate TGC-style and have Nia switch to Blade mode on the fly in the middle of battle, likely with using her Specials as her new Driver Arts.
Really there are just so many ways they could have integrated her two forms more closely and I really wish there were more ways that her status in one mode would affect the other. I haven't even mentioned yet the fact that she has so many sources of Break for herself and yet doesn't give one to Rex. I'll still continue to use her in Blade mode though no only because she's Best Girl, but also because doing so basically lets you control 2 Drivers at the same time and have 4 of your 5 party members on the field instead of just 3.
Letting Nia act TGC style is what I dreamed of when I saw the truth and I was heartbroken that she can never be her true form and be played as at the same time c':
Just realized that "Nia" is a pun on "Nya"
I think this weapon has potential. If only it did damage.
Blade nia carried me through late game and I’ll always love her for that.
I wish Nia had a Break art.
Rex doesn't get a lot of those and I was using driver Nia for Break throughout most of my playthrough (didn't get QTpi until my NG+ run) so I never saw a reason to use her as a Blade.
He gets Break arts from lances and katanas, and those are some of his best weapon types already. Personally I'd have preferred a Launch art since I really hate using axes on him.
Nah, he needs another topple art, i was browsing through rexs moveset and he had 1 topple art. I get pyra mythra are pretty good, but its hard to setup specific fusions or get him to primarily use a different blade like dagas while tryin to use zeke for crossette spam because during the blade combo he swaps to pyra instead of changing to dagas. That or tora should have had a topple on QT pi (lol)
I remember the first time I got her and had a blast using her and figuring out how she worked. She's my favorite XC2 character too so I'm really glad you finally got around to covering her!
Would have been dope had her middle skill given her a huge damage boost to the party while HP is high, like 200%ish, considering her role in the story. Would make her skillset much more important.
I was wondering how you were going to avoid spoilers, and this was a great way to do it.
I think the title is hilarious and tragic because that scimitar is the catalyst for the Rex x Aegis relationship development, and its reward is getting friend-zoned even harder than Melia. XD
At least she got some solace with the final version of the title screen indicating she becomes part of the harem. Melia never got that, though she did eventually get some nice closure of other sorts.
There's a reason she had Fortitude as a skill on her affinity chart
Yes! Time for best gurl!
A man of culture.
just incase you were not aware, though the thumbnail avoids spoilers, hovering over enough to get the gif preview does spoil the character in question. Not an actual complaint, but should be known before someone who cares complains.
Yeah I really wish there was a way to choose whether that happens or not like pressing a specific part of a thumbnail or something it just makes scrolling through videos more difficult than it needs to be since now you have to worry about a video starting to play if you linger on it too much (I don’t know maybe that’s only an annoyance for me)
I'm literally in spirit crucible elpys right now in ng+ so this is really helpful as I'm about to unlock blade Nia again 👍
I hatred elpys my first time playing this game just because Tora is your only way to get any orbs on the unique monsters and I always forgot somehow.
Genuinely surprised that even with the dlc and new game plus bonuses added over the years she still isn’t able to drive herself like other flesh eaters seen in the story or have a costume where she can use her blade appearance as a driver
Honestly, having aggro on Nia isn’t all that big of a deal, since she has absurdly effective and rapid healing, unless you get one shot, you will quickly recover whatever health you lost. I have MAX Affinity ATK and Barrier, but instead of Art Stealth, I have Ultimate Shield.
I used her alongside Pneuma throughout the entire rest of the game, and that's about how long the novelty of being mostly unkillable lasted. Decided playing Nia isn't a lot of fun. Passive healing is great, but when all you're good for is healing and the healing happens automatically, then what are you really even doing? I so wish they'd made her more interesting to play...
Even if they didn't want to give her more damage, she could've had more support options. Or, based on the cutscene where she attacked Malos by messing with the water in his cells somehow, she could've had a natural DoT effect on any enemies she's in combat with. And it could scale up with affinity, or the amount of damage she's dealt, or something. Anything to give her more to her kit then just...healing.
Me who has kos-mos on Nia, "An okay feature that I won't use"
samelol
This weapon looks like a straight upgrade of the Aquarius Blade from Kid Icarus Uprising😯
Your channel is the only reason I'm still playing Xenoblade 2 after beating it. I didn't know there so much content for second playthrough.
Nia: "Me-ow"
This is basically a never die strat
Omg thank you for making this video!
Nia is one of my favorite blades, sadly she isn't as strong as others but thanks for the guide.
I had no idea who you were covering this video. Good option!
Nia in a nutshell: "Haha, Welsh catgirl go brrr."
the game is almost 4 years old and you still don't put a spoile... respect
Props for not spoiling story content, even years after release 👌
Nia may be good as a blade, but using her that way is a significant restriction on party composition due to it taking away a possible driver, even worse being that it's the one who specializes in inflicting Break.
*Proceeds to send Nia on merc missions in NG+*
I tried making Rex a healer/tank hybrid with *scimitar* once. It didn't go *too* bad.... but it wasn't very impressive either.
I'm not even a huge Nia fan and I feel like they could've made her absolutely broken for a pre-dlc blade because it fits pretty well thematically. Also at 10:24 I had to do a double take since you said driver combo but you meant blade combo
Hell, they could've made a buffed version of her as a dlc blade and attach it to a minor dlc quest.
4:30 "nia have no problem keepin rex healthy all the time."
My boy rex need all the healing to survive his 3 wives (xenoblade 3 THAT photo)
I get that chaos scimitar is supposed to be super safe so people can complete chapter 7 more easily. But I would have preferred if she got a zeke treatment as well during the dlc that let her lose because she realizes that rex isn't a pushover who needs to be bottle fed.
I really needed this vid. I was so lost trying to enjoy the blades the story _tries_ to push on you in my current re-re-re-replay. My response to everything in my first play was "lol scary bugman go smash."
What I find hilarious about the codenames is the wiki literally listing the characters that are unavailable in NG+ when a specific blade is sent out on a merc mission and it is like "Nia is unavailable when Catalyst is sent out". Since that makes no sense to anyone who has even played like 30 minutes of this game since she would always have other blades even if a new one she got in the late game went MiA, the only conclusion one could draw is that she is Catalyst. It literally misses the woods for the trees.
Yo Enel, long time fan of the channel! I've always loved xc2 but I never really got into the challenge mode aspect of it. I'm tryna get into it right now but I'm super lost on general setups for blades and team comps as well as general strategies. I'd really appreciate it if you made a video going over these things in a "Guide to Challenge Mode" video. I'm sure a lot of other people would appreciate this sorta video. Thanks
Game tutorial prompt: nia and Pyra have a super strong super special harem level4! U should try!!
Enel: no.
Nia and Ursula were two of my favorite Blades to use during my first run (currently on ng+ and I miss her so much). Funny enough, I didn't really rely on Nia as a Driver because of Xenoblade Chronicle's impact on me. As amazing characters Sharla and Melia are-Melia especially-their AI left much to be desired when it came to keeping the party alive (mainly pointing at Sharla here). So I would almost always take control of Sharla and take the role as Healer because MAN if I weren't in control.
Now onto XC2, I quickly latched onto Ursula for her healing capabilities, and she basically carried me through a large chunk of the game. And then I got Nia. After that point, my team was set. Pyra/Mythra for damage, and Nia and Ursula for keeping the party alive because DANG I couldn't trust anyone else to heal me.
I think I know why the healing abilities that only affect Rex are there, and seem kind of overkill, and it's because of story reasons, no? I mean, she has strong feelings for Rex, and thus doesn't want him to be hurt at all, right? So while it makes no mechanical sense, I think this is a case of mechanical storytelling. So I am totally okay with her being a niche blade type with no real uses aside from 'I like her so I use her'.
Been enjoying your videos! Been playing through on a new playthrough and you have been teaching me things I never knew!
That might just be the best thumbnail you've ever made, gonna have to double check the Overdrive vid to compare
Abyss Masque is a good accessory for Nia imo
This thumbnail has the same energy as Nn Li's video for this same weapon lmao.
My Rex is rocking Pyra, "Catalyst", and Roc. He's truly overpowered! Ok, jokes aside, I always tend to have characters in games outfitted in the most "in character" way as possible, and, for Rex, this seems to be his most "in character" setup. Pyra cause he seems to like that form more, "Catalyst" is a good friend of his, and Roc is to honor the memory of Vandam (plus Rex being the new Merc Boss and all).
Honestly, I still use Catalyst in a pinch because she can have 50% block rate which extreme high for a healer. Also, Given Catalyst superpower is essentially nullifying damage with life orbs, having different affinity either erecting barriers or potentially nullifying status effects like shackle, shackle heal or stink would be great.Also, sh eshould have alot of accessory slots because spoilers.
Thank you for make the titles spoilerfree xD
Coming to think of it, while it wouldn't be a guide on a blade technically, it would be an interesting topic to showcase what skills are the best for common blades and how you can use them. I guess though you already made good videos covering these topics already.
Really good spoiler cover.
Now that all story blades are done Zenobia has a chance to have a guide c:
Lmao it took me way too long to realize who he was talking about
Of course Nia is best healer, even as a driver shes a good healer!
Maybe Nia is good for Poisoned Paradise. I've never used this strat for that particular fight but I might give it a try.
Favorite Blade, Best healing blade, Favorite healing blade, Best Blade. Actually wish though it had a skill similar to what it did to a particular enemy though.
Best character.
legs
You know I honestly thought and I could have had some pretty good potential if they gave her a bit more damage like for as much she heals more damage she deals. Or if you manage to heal the enemy and get the enemy to 100% health you'll stun them or paralyze them, or instantly kill them. Pretty cool concept. I also feel like they should have made some changes to roc but that's for another day. An example would changing his element from wind to dark.
Hah took me a second, but I see what you did there with the thumbnail and title XD
In the story she got Melia-ed worse than Melia did in XC1, but she's still Best Girl.
I have been enjoying all of your videos. Keep up the goof work.
You seemed very amused about chain attack spamming Cloud Sea King Ken with little effort.
That in addition to seeing Zeke just passively build back from 1 HP to full by doing absolutely nothing.
Love these guides Enel.
Your videos have been so helpful to me, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the combat thanks to your work. With that said, there is still one thing that I’ve struggled with. healing without a dedicated healer has proven to be very difficult for me but I see that you are able to do so just fine. I was wondering if in the late/post game you get access to accessories, AUX cores, etc that does allow you to heal without a healer?
Edit: the spoiler warnings you have used throughout your videos have been very well done and it makes me happy to see the larger community treating spoilers with the care they need
I tried using Blade Nia during the first Malos fight. I used her heal art between Malos' arts, and while Rex was lifting his arms up, Malos used eater and killed Rex and Zeke. Redemption is such a long move I can use it before the enemy makes a move and I'm still doing the animation but not healing when the enemy does their attack.
I no longer use Blade Nia.
40K subs 🎉
I love this blade... and all you guys!
When RUclips actually spoils less than the wiki
Ok but why are Nia's ears backwards? They are backwards right, and I'm not just imagining it? Anyways I love Nia... and all you guys
Poor *spoiler blade*, they did not deserve the treatment they got from Rex in the story and the gameplay to an extent. I would change Cellular Stimulus to be able to overheal (give more hp than their current max is during battle, but once overhealed it can not do it again until your hp is back down to the normal amount). Instant regen would give a 35% chance to restore the parties hp by 5% after an art is used and a 2.5% from auto-attacks.
Oi, what are you doing watching this? Go finish Chapter 7 first, there be spoilers ahead!
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That aside, we reach our resident healer's awakened form now! I always liked the twist on her being a flesh eater, because not only is it foreshadowed masterfully in the hotspring scene, but it also led to two of my favorite moments involving her character; one being Rex's reaction when she confesses to him (a peak Rex moment too, to be sure), the other being the first fight with Malos in Morytha; i just found it really clever that she messes with his cell regeneration and makes it go out of control, essentially giving Malos cancer. Of course it doesn't keep Malos long because he's borderline a god, but it's still a crazy way to weaponize healing.
It's a shame that doesn't translate to her being a powerful blade. While she DID make for some safe fights, being safe doesn't contribute to getting a fight done quicker, not to mention the redundancy in her kit that could've been applied more strategically. To be fair I DO like healers, it's just that Xenoblade doesn't give them as much of a break because it loves having more efficient ways of doing the job healers have, not to mention making healers often overspecialize.
Also I didn't really use Blade Nia that much because I got KOS-MOS on Driver Nia because of her high ether, and also hardly ever had a spot for a healer on Rex's team. That and I felt kind of weird only having 4 team members to choose from, even if Nia's not the best. Iunno, maybe I was spoiled by Xenoblade 1's options but I jut like having a touch more options in my parties than 4. Still pretty neat though.
Don't think of it has having to choose 3 drivers out of 4. Think of it as being able to include a 4th driver in addition to the 3 already out, so only 1 has to be left out!
@@angeldude101 That is one way to look at it. And I won't deny, I do appreciate the people that are there, numbers or no.
Wanna know what's even better? The foreshadowing wasn't just at the hot spring. That was just the biggest and easiest one to spot. There was foreshadowing of Nia and her past all the way back in Gormott. (I was watching Chugga's LP, and a random townsperson had dialogue referring to her father.) The first cutscene that foreshadowed it was the big fight in Uraya.
@@lunamaster123 Oh right, I remember those now! You're right, the game did it multiple times but without being obvious about it. Good shit, Monosoft.
@@lunamaster123 She also reacted when Minoth revealed that he was a Flesh Eater.
Glad to see the spirit of this class got carried into XC3 with Lifesage
One day I'm going to actually finish a new game plus and get to fully enjoy challenge mode.
When I first beat chapter 7 I thought using her meant you could only have 2 party members
Ayyy congrats on 40K man!!
I know it seems weird to be surprised that *Catalyst Scimitar* doesn’t do much damage and pretty much is only good for healing but considering that blades like fiora and crossette exists... yeah it’s pretty weird they made a blade that only heals and does like nothing else.
Thank you for talking about best girl.
No one:
The brogs that nia gave hyper cancer too:
Good Guy Enel giving spoiler disclaimer for almost 3-year old game haha. Loving these Blade guides and content still being made for my favorite Switch game.
ill be honest i forget shes a story blade all the time
To be fair, if she's a Driver, then she just vanishes completely from the Blade List, so there's not much to remind you beyond an option to press Y, the Blade Album, and only a few story cutscenes and like 1 or 2 H2Hs.
This is indeed funny thumbnail