The primary reason to use this class is to hear Lanz snarl CRASH OUT and UPPAHCUT SLASH repeatedly and frankly I don't think any other reason is necessary.
The only reason I didn’t comment immediately is because I just finished Chapter 5 and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Just… wow. What a roller coaster of emotions that ending was. This game is an absolute masterpiece. Lanz: Man, my class really sucks, I wish I had a better weapon Eunie: You hear that, Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier!
Heck the ending of Chapter 5 was a short movie. All the cutscenes (i do not count the short moment where you only can press A to continue) are over an hour.
@@vkak1 The way I see it, Noah was the one who proved his resolve the most in the hour of need. He had every reason to give up and return to “the endless now,” but he still chose to stick to his guns and defy Moebius. Mio was just there to give him that final push. That’s just my interpretation of events, though
@@verdethestarwarrior1088 I know that's what it should have been, I just felt bad for Noah. His alter ego went full simp mode, went crazy, and all that, and I felt like my dude just acted passive in that moment whereas mio got all the credit. I'm in chapter 6....I'm hoping to see Noah shine a bit more. Also, I really think the game should insert more Noah - mio moments. Tbh, the romance is really badly written...for a dude that went full on insane, it should have been better scripted. Okay, I get the past lives they married and had a kid and all that.....it's just....I'd have like to see him with a similar level of love to her and she him as well, to show how he did choose different from his past self.
@@MrDeflador I spent over 15 minutes on that part where you just press A three times. The atmosphere was great, and I saw it as a good chance to stop and contemplate.
I think it'd be cool if you did a guide along the lines of "these are the three or four best classes to run on these characters" kind of deal, where you list some options for party setup. Because I'm not sure who should have what class when I actually have a setup for dealing damage, other than a vague impression that Taion isn't suited to slap people around with swords or whatever. I guess the classes that each character inherits might be a good start, but some of them seem almost as weak as their default classes, if not weaker. (EDIT: now that I think about it, that might be something saved for the tier list, like the weapon types for Xenoblade 2, but whatever)
Base stat differences are negligible, and Taion is actually one of the best characters to make an Attacker because of his high TP rating in Chain Attacks.
@@akumar9836 It makes sense why the main party would use the weapon the exact same as the hero who originally has it. Sense Ouroboros unlock skills and practices that certain hero did. Also in 2, driver's for most part strength wise was no wear near the blade's strength to use it at its best, meanwhile 3 half of the main party are blades while the Kevesi side have a power frame (the circle pad on their hip) which puts them on par with Agnus since blade's by default are already so strong.
I think combining variable turret with a fusion art for evasion, such as wide slash, is extremely good as the evasion property is given to variable turret's extremely long art animation which keeps you invulnerable for quite a long time, though I think its a better option for early and mid game than late game
Shield wall is also worth a mention. The slow animations across the board give them the potential to squeeze a meaningful amount of maxHP-based healing out of it. Although I don't know if that healing has any notable aggro draw behind it.
@@vero9498 If you use it right, it actually does really well. It's no arts spam Lone Exile, but it's quite effective. Use a Champion Ring and have Uppercut Slash fused with Jackal Claw, cancel Uppercut Slash+Jackal Claw into Aerial Slash+Variable Turret. This setup holds aggro really well despite its low damage. I tested the set out against a few strong attackers: Incursor, Seraph, Offensive Soulhacker, and Full Metal Jaguar. The set held aggro against all of them, even when I went and arts spammed for a few seconds while Variable Turret was up. Just make sure that you cancel your arts. Have Crash out paired with Resonant Flag, and use Deflector Field as your talent art. Once you get Awakening, you can pass it to everyone, and during the long Variable Turret animation you can get someone to use Glittering Melody to extend the duration. Any Awakening Passer can do this, but Heavy Guard makes it easy because of the long invinvibility window
@@wesnohathas1993 Probably not a good idea to do that. Part of the reason Variable Turret works is that, even if it is kinda weak, you're still dealing damage, which generates aggro, and you should immediately cancel out of that into a Jack Claw+Uppercut Slash to generate more aggro and keep dodging. You have to constantly attack to keep aggro.
4:00 I wouldn’t recommend putting Break on a tank, since you can only Break from the side in this game if you’re not Ouroboros Lanz or Unlimited Noah. Tanks will want the enemy facing towards them, making it really hard to get into position for a Break.
This class is aesthetically my favorite so far, its been a silly dream of mine to have a class that functions like a tank but uses a giant sword to block attacks, they even made the blade expand outward when guarding! I don’t care if its meta or not, im gonna make a build for this class work no matter what!
It's weird that Reyn is the only "face tank" they did right in the series. They gave him a big oomph option *and* a fast-charging combo. Everyone else is just "slow+big HP."
Definitive Edition might have overdid it tho lol (with level 12 arts, Reyn ends up outdamaging Shulk and still maintaining much better survivability than him, you know, the character that’s actually supposed to be an attacker?) If it wasn’t for Shulk’s amazing support Monado Arts and Light Heal, he probably would’ve been outclassed by Reyn overall
@@jomaq9233 Reyn has always been the main damage dealer of the Shulk/Dunban/Reyn team even without the Lv12 art. X5 Sword Drive can shave off most of the bosses' HP (Blossom Dance technically does more but you don't always have access to it).
One thing to note, if you don't have an art to cancel into, you can still cut the end lag of some of his arts with dashing afterwards. Still not the best class with that in mind, but at least it makes player control a little less sluggish
Would like to add that auto attack "recharge" also counts down during the art animations. So for Lanz, canceling to the dash gets him to auto attack faster as well
Thank you so much for this!!! I HATE this class eith a passion because of how sluggish it feels, but I wanted to get max it to get skills. But man is it lackluster compared to others.
These guides are fantastic! I would be really interested in an "working with the AI" guide that teaches what classes and effects are best on party members you intend to leave always under ai control (ie empowered combo gems are a waste of time) and what setups an ai will screw up the least with if you don't wanna spend your time constantly swapping around.
Hey Enel, this Class might have gotten better since Wave 3. Since you can now Increase your Crit Rate higher than 17%points. Like 32%points (Theorised). This Allowes Lanz to use Variant Turret, in Combination with Frenzied Combo to always have a Shield, blocking everything while Making Damage. I have tried it personally, and it works. It actually has a Really High Damage Output for a Tank. My highest Damage (with Team Support) was 120k. And 30 to 60k Consistent.
5:22 You can see how much aggro is accumulated in the build summary screen (press ZR in the character menu). It will be noted as "Auto Aggro Up". The same applies to the Feather accessories that automatically build aggro. For example, at rank 10 (where I'm at), it generates 15 aggro per second automatically. Not sure how much of a difference this makes compared to the aggro generated from attacks, but at least there's a way to show the value. The same applies to stuff like the Perilous Presence gem (shows up as "Aggro Starter") and the Signet Ring accessory (shows up as "Draw Aggro (Evasion)"). I wish the item descriptions would show these point values, but at least there's _some_ way to see the numbers behind it now.
@@EnelXC I _think_ it means generating 15 points of aggro per second? I haven't tested it much though. At the very least, it can quantify the difference between the vague "major effect" and "minor effect" in the item description.
@@EnelXC I suppose one way to test it would be to have one tank with Perilous Presence and the other with a Feather accessory and see how long it takes for the Feather tank to overtake the Perilous Presence tank in the aggro lead (with everyone set to follow leader of course)
you mentioned Solid Stance as an art that “isn’t worth using” and while I agree when it comes to tank classes in my experience it can be a great option for healers! It’s a nice safety net if the enemy has strong area of effect attacks, and sometimes lets them take a couple more attacks while reviving your dead tanks
My idea was to put Solid Stance on my Signifier: with two fields to place, Cross Impact, and its two buff-related arts, I need one more master art, and by making it another non-damaging art, I ensure the AI literally always has Power Charge on the Signifier (only one damaging art which is Cross Impact) and passes Power Charge every time it shares its buffs. I need to test later today if this shares Solid Stance, though, as that would be awful, but it's probably best-in-slot otherwise out of what I have.
@@celestialspark5697 If you are doing it for a chain attack, then you can just use Glorious Wing. You should instead use Shadow Eye as Attack Up can run out on you outside of Chain Order attacks Also Stances don't get shared by Signifier, you're better off just slapping on a Multiblast or Break Art and use the Rally command before the chain attack
@@mezzome8028 I'm talking about AI Signifier outside of a chain attack. If it has no damage arts, then the AI can't waste its power charge and thus passes it to the entire team every time it shares buffs.
Shame that there are so few tank options in the game and that this one is just not as good/fun as the others. Hopefully DLC can alleviate that a bit and add some more tanks classes. A step up from the shield hammer issue of 2 though lol
At the point of the game I'm in, I've got 3 tank classes, 5 attackers and 5 healers, but only one of those tank classes is fun to control, and only 2 of them are actually effective.
@@bkebradley I wont say what they are but having gotten all the classes by now pre postgame, I can defo say the last 2 tanks you unlock are actually really fun and satisfying to play; and are really effective at that
@@macaza1092 Not sure how the 5th tank class is any different from Heavy Guard. It never draws aggro, has zero damage passives (other than spike damage which absolutely does not scale at all with your other damage), and basically exists in a world where you're expected to be useful by being impossible to kill but never get targeted. Mighty Beat is also absolute steaming garbage on the AI because it will never use it unless it smashes, and then it does autoattack-level damage while ending your launch early and pushing up the rage marker. Never understood why Lost Vanguard gets this kind of praise, but Guardian Commander (with an absolutely broken talent art [Awakening giving +40% damage, -30% damage taken, -35% cooldowns including on the talent art itself which halfway recharges by the time its own animation is finished, and the talent art reacts to all damage by healing 75% of it back], extremely high damage arts post-awakening, and a really abusable animation to pair with an evasion master art, is somehow passed up on.
I feel bad for Variable Turret, considering how much it is used in cutscenes and in Lanz's Ouroboros Chain attack finisher, you would think it would be really good, but alas it was never meant to be.
with all that said, heavy guard have IMO the most reliable blue circle skill out of all protector, as it doesn't rely on luck or specific condition. Enemy AOE are surprisingly plentiful, and it's easy to lose track of your characters in a fight against a group.
That's probably not terribly feasible since you will likely be swapping classes constantly, both to unlock them on other characters and to unlock skills/arts. There's definitely some standout options for arts and skills, though, such as Zephyr, Yumsmith, Incursor, Ogre, Flash Fencer, War Medic, Tactician, and Guardian Commander, for the early to mid game. Each one has arts or skills that are wildly useful to you as you progress, and will likely continue be used in endgame builds here and there. Notice that there are a LOT on the list, and while some could be ignored (you're not likely to care about War Medic or Tactician if you're working on someone you're certain will be a tank, and not using Ether or healing master arts), you'll likely be shifting classes pretty consistently in an attempt to accrue all of the necessary arts/skills to get a decent build together. The closest you could maybe do is a priority listing, but that's going to be based on whether you want damage, survivability, or utility.. Using flash fencer will get you extra damage loaded into your Agnian classes, but Yumsmith and Incursor can get you an easy break on everyone, so... Will change depending on what each individual wants.
Honestly it kinda feels like it's exactly where it should be to me. Face tanks are kinda meant to be the fallback tank, the one that takes the heat when the non-face tank takes too much damage or whatnot. And quite frankly, even though the AI is of course nowhere near as optimised as a person, Lanz generally keeps the heat off people when needed and tanks the hell out of everything. So while it is kinda unfortunate that the class falls off by endgame, I'd argue that it getting "outshined" by the other tank classes is somewhat by design, since for the vast majority of the game your Zephyrs or Lone Exiles aren't gonna be able to stay alive while grabbing all the heat, and certainly don't do as good of a job at surviving and helping others survive. It gets the job done when I'm just not beefy enough, and that's all I need from it.
One thing I like to do with heavy guard is to fuse an evasion master art with variable turret, I find that I can evade during the entire animation of Variable turret.
Heavy Guard's combat niche is to swap to it when you run through a high level area so you can take a hit or two from enemies before you get out of their aggro range, and then put it back in the closet for the rest of the game
It's kind of sad when you were talking about Variable Turret and I couldn't even fathom how long it lasts because I never thought it'd be worth using based on the description alone. Definitely agree with Deflector Field as a good master talent art choice. Would Gemini Strike also be good as another form of guaranteed evasion?
Personally I like combining variable turret with an evasion art but I rarely have aggro while doing I so it's a bit useless. Definitely best art animation though, but it is a super long art.
If i decide to play as this class directly, i use a master art to lock aggro, preferably with on a AoE to make more enemies focus me, then variable turret-wide slash to just become invincible for the whole animation. Doesn't work perfectly because of the aggro problems, but a good fallback if i decide to use it. There's also an accessory that increases aggro every time you evade an attack, but i haven't tested enough to know how well that helps.
Variable Turret is absolutely Lanz's best art in the early game (like chapter 1), and I feel this is worth mentioning. In the early game, Lanz holds aggro very well off his passive aggro generation, and it's basically impossible to take it off him. You also don't have access to gems or good accessories, so his block rate isn't that high, and the 100% block for a long time makes a huge difference. Running Variable Turret makes the first Moebius boss SO much easier on Hard mode.
Oh hey I'm not the only one that thought of this! Seriously it's really nice getting aggro with heavy guard they using wide slash+variable turret to be invincible for like a thousand years
I tried the same. Very good on paper since he does gets a huge defensive bonus, but it makes him completely useless in holding aggro. In those forever seconds where he is avoiding dmg, the dmg dealers stack up quite a lot of aggro away from him. This is on hard btw. Not sure if things are different in normal, but in hard you dont want your tank to lose aggro like that. I still think this class is such a let down. They should patch those slow motions.
I think this class is actually very good. Get a high block rate, load it up with aggro gems, accessories and arts. Throw in a Shield belt for big damage reduction. Natural selection and any other skills that reduce damage. Yes it will hit for absolutely pathetic damage, but it is good at keeping aggro and never dying. In most difficult fights in hard mode, I swapped Lanz back to this and he did great.
I feel like what would give Physical Tanks a level of practicality is if the blocking effected the party based on positioning. Like it could block incoming attacks for not JUST that character, but whoever they stand near with good timing. That would justify the time based cooldown to me.
Aggravator generates 30 aggro per second on level 20. There is a summary of stats page somewhere where you can check that. And yeah, 30 aggro per second is not that much.
So it's literally Electra? Lmao It does work to grab untargeted enemies, though - at least until they're hit by an AoE. Though I suppose you could accomplish the same by simply playing the character with this class, which you probably are, so...
Finally! The handsome man makes his incredible guide for the most handsome man of them all! Lanz is a shining example of peak male performance! Let's get stuck in!
Funnily enough, Variable Turrets have its use and can be a clutch early game in chapter 1 fights, especially on hard mode. It's also one of the only early game options to reach Bravo first round in chain attack given suitable setup (Taion or Noah need to be using the class for one thing). But yeah, as you reach mid and late game and have access to better master arts, it becomes less and less viable.
I would absolutely love a video talking about chain attack tactics, kind of demystifying some of them. I used your tactics and advice in xc2 and got my superboss kill times mostly under a minute and moving to this game I just feel clueless a lot of the time. Thank you for the A+ content so far.
Oh and as a follow on: I really love that you try to keep spoilers to a minimum. I'm only on chapter four and some people are already happily putting huge spoilers in the damn video titles :(
Seems to me that this class isn't really meant to pull aggro. They want you to use other defensive classes to do this. This class is meant to stay alive. And variable turret is awesome. It blocks everything in a small radius around the user, so it can stop attacks from hitting other party members if you're positioned right. I fuse it with Giant Swing for the knockback effect and because it calculates for the knockback for every single bullet from the turret, I stun-lock enemies all the time. When I'm in over my head, especially on hard, my heavy guard(s) are always the last ones standing.
There's a really funny setup to make this class an insane dodge tank. Pair Uppercut Slash with Jackal Claw, Variable Turret with Aerial Slash, run Eye for Weak Points and Frenzied Combo, equip a Champion Ring for aggro gain when you evade an attack, and you've got yourself a set. I tested it, and it managed to hold aggro against some of the best attackers in the game when used well.
something that helps a bit with arts that have long ending aminations is if you use a quick move when you would otherwise cancel into another attack in some cases the move is shorter time than the animation would take
Honestly, I hate that fact so much. As far as I'm concerned, Guardian Commander is a mandatory class so I can have a bloody topple art that I can use on something other than heavy guard.
I really can't stand using heavy guard. It's clear that it's supposed to emulate Reyn since Lanz is cut from the same cloth, but it just feels like Monolith decided to emulate early game Reyn and remove all the later game benefits like sword drive shenanigans. As soon as I got guardian commander, I ditched heavy guard and never looked back.
Great build! For me personally, like you said, the main use I’ve found for heavy guard is for huge smash damage, which isn’t something exclusive to this class but I’ve found a nice setup to do it with: I have the sena/ogre build you posted in a previous video, except she’s not the main launcher of the team. I have lanz with crash out/mighty beat as a fusion art, and I use that for big damage at the end of chain attacks, and since it’s mapped to crash out, he’s also hitting an aoe around the enemy and drawing aggro, with the high multiplier. I also use deflector field as his master art for the awakening boost. I’m only in chapter 6 right now, but he’s hitting for 1m in chain attacks (with ashera of course) and maintaining aggro quite well. Having signifer and troubadour support does also help
These class video guides are the highlight of my day. Thank you for all blowing them consistently every single day except for that 1 day 1 day which I understand you had to take for yourself. I've been a long time subscriber of this channel for many years now and I definitely support you and your endeavors.
It's a shame that Lanz kinda falls behind with his default class, especially since it'd be cool to run an endgame setup with everyone in their defaults just for the heck of it. But like you said, this game is surprisingly balanced overall, so even stuff that isn't the most OPTIMAL isn't necessarily terrible. Just a matter of "there are better options, but these work," which is nice.
I feel like these games could use a revamped aggro system, it's very frustrating how tanks basically have to be a secondary DPS to be viable because of how it works. I was hoping 3 would fix that, but alas, back to another damage meta. At least Healers have some use now!
I can definitely see where Variable Turret suffers, and it does seem like it’ll be worth a lot less in end-game, but I’m in chapter 4, and I can honestly say that I’ve found it comes in handy. Maybe I’m just bad at building my team but I’ve been able to get a good hold on aggro and pop turret when a boss starts a big attack to negate damage and still keep aggro. Paired with Ultimate Counter it definitely feels like it does good work. Anyway these guide are really helpful and I appreciate them a lot cuz I can tell you right now I wouldn’t be where I am without them.😂 Also Lanz’ sword is just a Gundam weapon, and the only one I like from Gundam SEED so, gives me an idea for a model kit custom down the line
One thing I noticed recently is that, for arts with long animation lag, you can use Quick Move to cancel the animation if you don't have an Art ready. More useful early game, but worth noting! (Doesn't work on interlink, since there is no Quick Move during interlink.)
I pair variable turret with wide slash to evade all damage during the long animation that's the best use i've found for it, pop it right after pulling aggro now if only i could keep that aggro. For being the talent art I wish mad taunt was better, when keeves soldiers use theirs you get target locked but you have to hope you the enemy will give you the time of day when you use it(or maybe that's just how it is on hard mode) What made mad taunt good on Reyn was that you could get it regularly quick and for doing nothing but make you a big target it combos into powering up a couple moves if they're used after it. In this game it takes me awhile to build it up(maybe that's me) and when i do get it I wonder if it did anything, it sure does nothing for any of your arts since they gave that bit away to deflector field. Personally I really like tanking roles in games in general and gravitate towards them, specifically damage tanking evasion tanking is just a glass cannon poser. It thus causes me no end of grief when the optimal way to play in a lot of games i've played is to ditch the slow damage sponge and go full offense, no need for protection or healing if the enemy is already dead. Still trudging through hard mode I find guardian commander my preferred tank, it's just rough to control crowd aggro with them.
I like walking as a tank class cuz you have less risk of dying to a high level enemy, when I leap of the cliffs and notice by enemies with more health to get away. Attacker and healers gets worst HP in this game.
Really sad that the beginning classes aren’t good compared to the rest of the other classes. Especially Tactician and Heavy Guard, because those didn’t have much going for them.
I mean, they are only beginning classes for a reason, if they were too powerful, there would be no reason to use any of the other classes. That’s how I see it.
Man, this class seems so good at staying alive, a great thing in any situation expect a giant AoE that ohko’s all your healers anyway Sorry, I’m just currently stuck on the second Y fight lmao, I’m 6 levels above this boss and it just keeps aoeing all my healers to death in enrage range
My biggest problem with Heavy Guard was that it was almost impossible to keep any aggro on them if another tank was in the party. Zephyr can get in way more hits at a faster rate, and therefore will always have a higher aggro than Heavy Guard. Their talent art is also pretty useless. Rarely managed to pull anything with it, and the taunt would wear off almost instantly. It's only saving grace is the high block rate, and even that isn't enough to make a tank class "great".
Busy day today so I didn’t get to watch this earlier but I’m here now! Speaking of now, now it’s Reyn time! Or wait it’s Lanz time I guess, doesn’t hit the same but Lanz is still cool.
I use this class with ring o roses and the troubadour recharge skill as well as the accessory that recharges arts on blocks. It can be kinda cool with the recharge buffs
Linking aerial slash to variable turret and fusing them make Lanz evade everything for a really long time, it’s probably not that much better but still fun to watch.
This and tactician are pretty good early game on hard mode even if they really suck later, variable turret and solid stance can actually see some use there to keep from instantly dying
Do you think Maximum Voltage would work better on this class? I used that instead of Glitter Stream along with Deflector Field when I switched to all default classes for the endgame.
I will say that Heavy Guard can come in very handy in the early to mid game, and you are naturally guarenteed to have it. It takes damage better then Zephyr or Lone Exile for a good while, making it a good fallback option. Variable Turret can also help in chapters 1 and 2 in hard mode. It's tank aura is also very handy, it's not RNG like the others and just gives a solid dammage reduction for anyone in range as well as having a larger range, giving it a fairly nice party utility in some AOE heavy fights. It does fall off more then the other tanks in late and post game though.
I use a crit-based Chaotic Memory set for Heavy Guard, having Aerial Slash and Jackal Claw for evasion, and mainly utilizing Variable Turret for it's super long animation and absurd hit count to rack up crits, and the guaranteed blocks are a nice bonus. It still maintains aggro pretty well, despite the slow animations. Is it viable: no, not really. Is it stupid: yes. Is it funny: absolutely.
@@ivythay4259 well ofc a defender won't do big damage like an optimized attacker. But if a defender could hold aggro well and literally never die, isn't it super viable enough? And you could get access to this before postgame and the weaker version way before. HG was the MVP throughout my low level hard mode run. Other defenders cannot survive as well if underlevelled.
Just started video, unfortunate that my feelings towards class in first half of game I left as comment in zephyr video are unfortunately feeling like confirmed if you're not keeping yourself as the class to mitigate the issues when trying to compete with quicker tank classes, excited to see how to make full use of it though!
now one thing i havnt bothered to test my self just yet but does appear to work with longer animation arts is any of the evasion ones like wide slash, can it be paired with variable turret to give the full duration of the art evasion instead of block. be it this will ask you to keep aggro up, but if you can keep up and also get the buff evasion i can see some weird use for this
If there's one complaint I have for this game is the lack of defender classes with only 5 in the base game. I get it might be hard figuring out several classes to do the same thing but even I thought up vamp tank concept a tank that syphons health to sustain themselves.
I have been playing him with the machinegun art bc for some reason it give me a ton of PT on chain attacks, fine to end a round with a Tank class + reach those 150% sometimes
The one benefit I like of this class over other tanks is the 30% damage reduction to nearby allies. Helps my ai controlled party members not instantly die to any aoe
Granted, I haven't beaten the game yet, I only just finished chapter 5. Therefore I don't know how viable it will be in late game, but I LOVE using the Rigid Support accessory with face tanks. I make sure my block rate is high and get that sweet art recharge.
I’m going to say it, but I’m going to be doing something special for the final boss fight of Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s base game. And that will be having the party have the classes they started off with at the start of the game for the final battle. Noah will be Swordfighter, Mio will be Zephyr, Eunie will be Medic Gunner, Taion will be Tactician, Lanz will be Heavy Guard and Sena will be Ogre. This will be possibly very tough for me taking on the final boss with the party’s starting classes, but if I manage to defeat the final boss with the party’s starting classes, it WILL be worth it.
WAIT! I'VE FOUND OUT SOMETHING THAT MAKES LANZ'S ART FINISHING ANIMATIONS NOT SLOW! After you hit the enemy with the art, quickstep to enter out of the animation!
The mvp of all classes. You're all thinking it
Needs something meatier
Doesn’t quite have the gall though
He makes the battle over way to soon
Hopefully doesn't much us yawn to death
Lmao, yes!
The primary reason to use this class is to hear Lanz snarl CRASH OUT and UPPAHCUT SLASH repeatedly and frankly I don't think any other reason is necessary.
The only reason I didn’t comment immediately is because I just finished Chapter 5 and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Just… wow. What a roller coaster of emotions that ending was. This game is an absolute masterpiece.
Lanz: Man, my class really sucks, I wish I had a better weapon
Eunie: You hear that, Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier!
Heck the ending of Chapter 5 was a short movie. All the cutscenes (i do not count the short moment where you only can press A to continue) are over an hour.
Was I the only one that didn't like the "save"? I felt as if my boi Noah got shafted hard by mio during chapter 5.....
@@vkak1 The way I see it, Noah was the one who proved his resolve the most in the hour of need.
He had every reason to give up and return to “the endless now,” but he still chose to stick to his guns and defy Moebius. Mio was just there to give him that final push. That’s just my interpretation of events, though
@@verdethestarwarrior1088 I know that's what it should have been, I just felt bad for Noah. His alter ego went full simp mode, went crazy, and all that, and I felt like my dude just acted passive in that moment whereas mio got all the credit. I'm in chapter 6....I'm hoping to see Noah shine a bit more. Also, I really think the game should insert more Noah - mio moments. Tbh, the romance is really badly written...for a dude that went full on insane, it should have been better scripted. Okay, I get the past lives they married and had a kid and all that.....it's just....I'd have like to see him with a similar level of love to her and she him as well, to show how he did choose different from his past self.
@@MrDeflador I spent over 15 minutes on that part where you just press A three times. The atmosphere was great, and I saw it as a good chance to stop and contemplate.
I think it'd be cool if you did a guide along the lines of "these are the three or four best classes to run on these characters" kind of deal, where you list some options for party setup. Because I'm not sure who should have what class when I actually have a setup for dealing damage, other than a vague impression that Taion isn't suited to slap people around with swords or whatever. I guess the classes that each character inherits might be a good start, but some of them seem almost as weak as their default classes, if not weaker.
(EDIT: now that I think about it, that might be something saved for the tier list, like the weapon types for Xenoblade 2, but whatever)
anyone can use any class tbh, base stats aren't that much different. Notable exception is just the default 6 classes.
@@EnelXC probably also who you want to have specific TP
Base stat differences are negligible, and Taion is actually one of the best characters to make an Attacker because of his high TP rating in Chain Attacks.
@@EnelXC one of the biggest shame is also, none of the characters gain unique effects and animations on different classes
@@akumar9836 It makes sense why the main party would use the weapon the exact same as the hero who originally has it. Sense Ouroboros unlock skills and practices that certain hero did. Also in 2, driver's for most part strength wise was no wear near the blade's strength to use it at its best, meanwhile 3 half of the main party are blades while the Kevesi side have a power frame (the circle pad on their hip) which puts them on par with Agnus since blade's by default are already so strong.
I think combining variable turret with a fusion art for evasion, such as wide slash, is extremely good as the evasion property is given to variable turret's extremely long art animation which keeps you invulnerable for quite a long time, though I think its a better option for early and mid game than late game
For late game, variable turret fusion with aerial slash + eye for weak points + frenzied combo is basically an "I'm Invincible" button
@@stanleya.8805 Still doesn't do much damage however, you will find aggro keep slipping to others if you spam that.
Shield wall is also worth a mention. The slow animations across the board give them the potential to squeeze a meaningful amount of maxHP-based healing out of it. Although I don't know if that healing has any notable aggro draw behind it.
@@vero9498 If you use it right, it actually does really well. It's no arts spam Lone Exile, but it's quite effective. Use a Champion Ring and have Uppercut Slash fused with Jackal Claw, cancel Uppercut Slash+Jackal Claw into Aerial Slash+Variable Turret. This setup holds aggro really well despite its low damage.
I tested the set out against a few strong attackers: Incursor, Seraph, Offensive Soulhacker, and Full Metal Jaguar. The set held aggro against all of them, even when I went and arts spammed for a few seconds while Variable Turret was up. Just make sure that you cancel your arts.
Have Crash out paired with Resonant Flag, and use Deflector Field as your talent art. Once you get Awakening, you can pass it to everyone, and during the long Variable Turret animation you can get someone to use Glittering Melody to extend the duration. Any Awakening Passer can do this, but Heavy Guard makes it easy because of the long invinvibility window
@@wesnohathas1993 Probably not a good idea to do that. Part of the reason Variable Turret works is that, even if it is kinda weak, you're still dealing damage, which generates aggro, and you should immediately cancel out of that into a Jack Claw+Uppercut Slash to generate more aggro and keep dodging. You have to constantly attack to keep aggro.
4:00 I wouldn’t recommend putting Break on a tank, since you can only Break from the side in this game if you’re not Ouroboros Lanz or Unlimited Noah. Tanks will want the enemy facing towards them, making it really hard to get into position for a Break.
But with Ino her break art it doesnt require a possition My boy
Tip: He might want something a bit meatier
For me variable turret added to the immersion, as Lanz used it multiple times in cutscenes
Let's Get Stuck in
this Guide
This class is aesthetically my favorite so far, its been a silly dream of mine to have a class that functions like a tank but uses a giant sword to block attacks, they even made the blade expand outward when guarding! I don’t care if its meta or not, im gonna make a build for this class work no matter what!
It's weird that Reyn is the only "face tank" they did right in the series. They gave him a big oomph option *and* a fast-charging combo. Everyone else is just "slow+big HP."
So you're saying that the other tanks need to GIVE IT SOME OOMPH?
Definitive Edition might have overdid it tho lol (with level 12 arts, Reyn ends up outdamaging Shulk and still maintaining much better survivability than him, you know, the character that’s actually supposed to be an attacker?) If it wasn’t for Shulk’s amazing support Monado Arts and Light Heal, he probably would’ve been outclassed by Reyn overall
@@jomaq9233 He already was outclassed by him, Reyn was always the best character in the game
@@jomaq9233 Reyn has always been the main damage dealer of the Shulk/Dunban/Reyn team even without the Lv12 art. X5 Sword Drive can shave off most of the bosses' HP (Blossom Dance technically does more but you don't always have access to it).
One thing to note, if you don't have an art to cancel into, you can still cut the end lag of some of his arts with dashing afterwards. Still not the best class with that in mind, but at least it makes player control a little less sluggish
I just discovered this on my own and came here to make the same comment. Glad you made this clarification!
Would like to add that auto attack "recharge" also counts down during the art animations. So for Lanz, canceling to the dash gets him to auto attack faster as well
Thank you so much for this!!! I HATE this class eith a passion because of how sluggish it feels, but I wanted to get max it to get skills. But man is it lackluster compared to others.
Learning the quick-move tech is such a game changer. It's basically the new-age stutter step.
These guides are fantastic! I would be really interested in an "working with the AI" guide that teaches what classes and effects are best on party members you intend to leave always under ai control (ie empowered combo gems are a waste of time) and what setups an ai will screw up the least with if you don't wanna spend your time constantly swapping around.
This class seems pretty good, but I think it needs something a little _meatier_
Hey Enel, this Class might have gotten better since Wave 3. Since you can now Increase your Crit Rate higher than 17%points. Like 32%points (Theorised). This Allowes Lanz to use Variant Turret, in Combination with Frenzied Combo to always have a Shield, blocking everything while Making Damage. I have tried it personally, and it works. It actually has a Really High Damage Output for a Tank. My highest Damage (with Team Support) was 120k. And 30 to 60k Consistent.
5:22 You can see how much aggro is accumulated in the build summary screen (press ZR in the character menu). It will be noted as "Auto Aggro Up". The same applies to the Feather accessories that automatically build aggro. For example, at rank 10 (where I'm at), it generates 15 aggro per second automatically. Not sure how much of a difference this makes compared to the aggro generated from attacks, but at least there's a way to show the value. The same applies to stuff like the Perilous Presence gem (shows up as "Aggro Starter") and the Signet Ring accessory (shows up as "Draw Aggro (Evasion)").
I wish the item descriptions would show these point values, but at least there's _some_ way to see the numbers behind it now.
What does the number 15 mean though? Without any kind of comparison it doesn't exactly mean much.
@@EnelXC I _think_ it means generating 15 points of aggro per second? I haven't tested it much though. At the very least, it can quantify the difference between the vague "major effect" and "minor effect" in the item description.
@@EnelXC I suppose one way to test it would be to have one tank with Perilous Presence and the other with a Feather accessory and see how long it takes for the Feather tank to overtake the Perilous Presence tank in the aggro lead (with everyone set to follow leader of course)
you mentioned Solid Stance as an art that “isn’t worth using” and while I agree when it comes to tank classes in my experience it can be a great option for healers! It’s a nice safety net if the enemy has strong area of effect attacks, and sometimes lets them take a couple more attacks while reviving your dead tanks
Yeah as a master art it's got some decent utility for healers that don't care about damage.
My idea was to put Solid Stance on my Signifier: with two fields to place, Cross Impact, and its two buff-related arts, I need one more master art, and by making it another non-damaging art, I ensure the AI literally always has Power Charge on the Signifier (only one damaging art which is Cross Impact) and passes Power Charge every time it shares its buffs. I need to test later today if this shares Solid Stance, though, as that would be awful, but it's probably best-in-slot otherwise out of what I have.
That doesn't come up that often, however, when Advanced Cooldown exists and boosts the survivability of everyone
@@celestialspark5697 If you are doing it for a chain attack, then you can just use Glorious Wing. You should instead use Shadow Eye as Attack Up can run out on you outside of Chain Order attacks
Also Stances don't get shared by Signifier, you're better off just slapping on a Multiblast or Break Art and use the Rally command before the chain attack
@@mezzome8028 I'm talking about AI Signifier outside of a chain attack. If it has no damage arts, then the AI can't waste its power charge and thus passes it to the entire team every time it shares buffs.
Shame that there are so few tank options in the game and that this one is just not as good/fun as the others. Hopefully DLC can alleviate that a bit and add some more tanks classes. A step up from the shield hammer issue of 2 though lol
Corvin Incident about to happen in DLC Pack 1 for sure
@@WildspeakerYT I can't wait for the Corvin/Crossett Hero Classes for this game
At the point of the game I'm in, I've got 3 tank classes, 5 attackers and 5 healers, but only one of those tank classes is fun to control, and only 2 of them are actually effective.
@@bkebradley I wont say what they are but having gotten all the classes by now pre postgame, I can defo say the last 2 tanks you unlock are actually really fun and satisfying to play; and are really effective at that
@@macaza1092 Not sure how the 5th tank class is any different from Heavy Guard. It never draws aggro, has zero damage passives (other than spike damage which absolutely does not scale at all with your other damage), and basically exists in a world where you're expected to be useful by being impossible to kill but never get targeted. Mighty Beat is also absolute steaming garbage on the AI because it will never use it unless it smashes, and then it does autoattack-level damage while ending your launch early and pushing up the rage marker. Never understood why Lost Vanguard gets this kind of praise, but Guardian Commander (with an absolutely broken talent art [Awakening giving +40% damage, -30% damage taken, -35% cooldowns including on the talent art itself which halfway recharges by the time its own animation is finished, and the talent art reacts to all damage by healing 75% of it back], extremely high damage arts post-awakening, and a really abusable animation to pair with an evasion master art, is somehow passed up on.
I feel bad for Variable Turret, considering how much it is used in cutscenes and in Lanz's Ouroboros Chain attack finisher, you would think it would be really good, but alas it was never meant to be.
with all that said, heavy guard have IMO the most reliable blue circle skill out of all protector, as it doesn't rely on luck or specific condition. Enemy AOE are surprisingly plentiful, and it's easy to lose track of your characters in a fight against a group.
Despite it being terrible, I love variable turret for its pure fun factor
Same! I think it's so cool of an art, and I like that they finally made a "you sit there and block things" attack actually do damage and be fun.
Let’s get stuck in.
heyyyy new class guide! Thank you daddy Klaus and Father Enel!
Thank you for this. I'd love to get a rough tier list, especially for early/mid game
That's probably not terribly feasible since you will likely be swapping classes constantly, both to unlock them on other characters and to unlock skills/arts.
There's definitely some standout options for arts and skills, though, such as Zephyr, Yumsmith, Incursor, Ogre, Flash Fencer, War Medic, Tactician, and Guardian Commander, for the early to mid game. Each one has arts or skills that are wildly useful to you as you progress, and will likely continue be used in endgame builds here and there.
Notice that there are a LOT on the list, and while some could be ignored (you're not likely to care about War Medic or Tactician if you're working on someone you're certain will be a tank, and not using Ether or healing master arts), you'll likely be shifting classes pretty consistently in an attempt to accrue all of the necessary arts/skills to get a decent build together.
The closest you could maybe do is a priority listing, but that's going to be based on whether you want damage, survivability, or utility.. Using flash fencer will get you extra damage loaded into your Agnian classes, but Yumsmith and Incursor can get you an easy break on everyone, so... Will change depending on what each individual wants.
Honestly it kinda feels like it's exactly where it should be to me. Face tanks are kinda meant to be the fallback tank, the one that takes the heat when the non-face tank takes too much damage or whatnot. And quite frankly, even though the AI is of course nowhere near as optimised as a person, Lanz generally keeps the heat off people when needed and tanks the hell out of everything. So while it is kinda unfortunate that the class falls off by endgame, I'd argue that it getting "outshined" by the other tank classes is somewhat by design, since for the vast majority of the game your Zephyrs or Lone Exiles aren't gonna be able to stay alive while grabbing all the heat, and certainly don't do as good of a job at surviving and helping others survive. It gets the job done when I'm just not beefy enough, and that's all I need from it.
One thing I like to do with heavy guard is to fuse an evasion master art with variable turret, I find that I can evade during the entire animation of Variable turret.
I just commented the same thing! Use the long animation to your advantage.
Heavy Guard's combat niche is to swap to it when you run through a high level area so you can take a hit or two from enemies before you get out of their aggro range, and then put it back in the closet for the rest of the game
It's kind of sad when you were talking about Variable Turret and I couldn't even fathom how long it lasts because I never thought it'd be worth using based on the description alone. Definitely agree with Deflector Field as a good master talent art choice. Would Gemini Strike also be good as another form of guaranteed evasion?
gemini strike maybe but haven't tried it myself
Personally I like combining variable turret with an evasion art but I rarely have aggro while doing I so it's a bit useless. Definitely best art animation though, but it is a super long art.
If i decide to play as this class directly, i use a master art to lock aggro, preferably with on a AoE to make more enemies focus me, then variable turret-wide slash to just become invincible for the whole animation. Doesn't work perfectly because of the aggro problems, but a good fallback if i decide to use it. There's also an accessory that increases aggro every time you evade an attack, but i haven't tested enough to know how well that helps.
Variable Turret is absolutely Lanz's best art in the early game (like chapter 1), and I feel this is worth mentioning. In the early game, Lanz holds aggro very well off his passive aggro generation, and it's basically impossible to take it off him. You also don't have access to gems or good accessories, so his block rate isn't that high, and the 100% block for a long time makes a huge difference. Running Variable Turret makes the first Moebius boss SO much easier on Hard mode.
I was looking forward to this guide to find out if it was just me who thought it was bad! Now I can find out for sure!
we are free from the default classes
really looking forward to lone exile
I've combined Variable Turret with a Master Art that grants evasion (e.g. Wide Slash) and it gives the character evasion for SUCH a long time.
Actual genius idea right there. This makes Lanz the CEO of not getting hit
Oh hey I'm not the only one that thought of this! Seriously it's really nice getting aggro with heavy guard they using wide slash+variable turret to be invincible for like a thousand years
I tried the same. Very good on paper since he does gets a huge defensive bonus, but it makes him completely useless in holding aggro. In those forever seconds where he is avoiding dmg, the dmg dealers stack up quite a lot of aggro away from him. This is on hard btw. Not sure if things are different in normal, but in hard you dont want your tank to lose aggro like that. I still think this class is such a let down. They should patch those slow motions.
@@blkwng Just put the accessory on Lanz that he gains aggo every time he evades an attack if you want to hold aggro more.
@@sdtrawick hadn't thought of that.Ill try it
I really like this cast of characters
Hear that, guys? Enel wants something a bit metiah!
I think this class is actually very good. Get a high block rate, load it up with aggro gems, accessories and arts. Throw in a Shield belt for big damage reduction. Natural selection and any other skills that reduce damage. Yes it will hit for absolutely pathetic damage, but it is good at keeping aggro and never dying. In most difficult fights in hard mode, I swapped Lanz back to this and he did great.
I feel like what would give Physical Tanks a level of practicality is if the blocking effected the party based on positioning.
Like it could block incoming attacks for not JUST that character, but whoever they stand near with good timing. That would justify the time based cooldown to me.
Aggravator generates 30 aggro per second on level 20. There is a summary of stats page somewhere where you can check that.
And yeah, 30 aggro per second is not that much.
So it's literally Electra? Lmao
It does work to grab untargeted enemies, though - at least until they're hit by an AoE.
Though I suppose you could accomplish the same by simply playing the character with this class, which you probably are, so...
Lanz my beloved 🥰🥰🥰
Finally! The handsome man makes his incredible guide for the most handsome man of them all! Lanz is a shining example of peak male performance! Let's get stuck in!
Monolith knew how hot Lanz is since he had the most fan service 🙏
Funnily enough, Variable Turrets have its use and can be a clutch early game in chapter 1 fights, especially on hard mode. It's also one of the only early game options to reach Bravo first round in chain attack given suitable setup (Taion or Noah need to be using the class for one thing). But yeah, as you reach mid and late game and have access to better master arts, it becomes less and less viable.
I would absolutely love a video talking about chain attack tactics, kind of demystifying some of them. I used your tactics and advice in xc2 and got my superboss kill times mostly under a minute and moving to this game I just feel clueless a lot of the time. Thank you for the A+ content so far.
Oh and as a follow on: I really love that you try to keep spoilers to a minimum. I'm only on chapter four and some people are already happily putting huge spoilers in the damn video titles :(
Unfortunately, this isn’t Reyn 2.0 because it can’t Topple Lock super bosses forever
Can't one shot enemies (and sometimes bosses) with sword drive either. Such a shame.
@@conorb.1901 Sword Drive was flipping nuts
I was just in murmur rise a while go I was doing the hero quest there and a couple for colony four keep up the great videos enel
Seems to me that this class isn't really meant to pull aggro. They want you to use other defensive classes to do this. This class is meant to stay alive.
And variable turret is awesome. It blocks everything in a small radius around the user, so it can stop attacks from hitting other party members if you're positioned right. I fuse it with Giant Swing for the knockback effect and because it calculates for the knockback for every single bullet from the turret, I stun-lock enemies all the time.
When I'm in over my head, especially on hard, my heavy guard(s) are always the last ones standing.
There's a really funny setup to make this class an insane dodge tank. Pair Uppercut Slash with Jackal Claw, Variable Turret with Aerial Slash, run Eye for Weak Points and Frenzied Combo, equip a Champion Ring for aggro gain when you evade an attack, and you've got yourself a set. I tested it, and it managed to hold aggro against some of the best attackers in the game when used well.
something that helps a bit with arts that have long ending aminations is if you use a quick move when you would otherwise cancel into another attack in some cases the move is shorter time than the animation would take
Hey I got a lot of mileage out of Electra. I had her block rate very close to 100% and she would never die
The issue with Shield Hammers was never that they die easily, it's that they don't stop anyone else from dying just by being tanky.
Day of reckoning
if you only do main quest only, it's the only class to have access to topple outside of lv3 ouroboros.
the pain ;;
Honestly, I hate that fact so much. As far as I'm concerned, Guardian Commander is a mandatory class so I can have a bloody topple art that I can use on something other than heavy guard.
Good. People that don't get Heroes from side quests should be punished.
@@conorb.1901 To be fair the game is practically screaming at you to complete that hero quest, since it's the only way to get back to colony 9.
I really can't stand using heavy guard. It's clear that it's supposed to emulate Reyn since Lanz is cut from the same cloth, but it just feels like Monolith decided to emulate early game Reyn and remove all the later game benefits like sword drive shenanigans. As soon as I got guardian commander, I ditched heavy guard and never looked back.
I GOT SOMETHIN’ FOR YA!!!
Great build! For me personally, like you said, the main use I’ve found for heavy guard is for huge smash damage, which isn’t something exclusive to this class but I’ve found a nice setup to do it with: I have the sena/ogre build you posted in a previous video, except she’s not the main launcher of the team. I have lanz with crash out/mighty beat as a fusion art, and I use that for big damage at the end of chain attacks, and since it’s mapped to crash out, he’s also hitting an aoe around the enemy and drawing aggro, with the high multiplier. I also use deflector field as his master art for the awakening boost. I’m only in chapter 6 right now, but he’s hitting for 1m in chain attacks (with ashera of course) and maintaining aggro quite well. Having signifer and troubadour support does also help
The goat of continuous data keeping the homies fed
These class video guides are the highlight of my day. Thank you for all blowing them consistently every single day except for that 1 day 1 day which I understand you had to take for yourself.
I've been a long time subscriber of this channel for many years now and I definitely support you and your endeavors.
Great guide enel
It was so complicated (exaggeration) that I was forced to use my thinking muscles 😁
It's a shame that Lanz kinda falls behind with his default class, especially since it'd be cool to run an endgame setup with everyone in their defaults just for the heck of it. But like you said, this game is surprisingly balanced overall, so even stuff that isn't the most OPTIMAL isn't necessarily terrible. Just a matter of "there are better options, but these work," which is nice.
I feel like these games could use a revamped aggro system, it's very frustrating how tanks basically have to be a secondary DPS to be viable because of how it works. I was hoping 3 would fix that, but alas, back to another damage meta. At least Healers have some use now!
They finally fixed healers/support, it’s time for face tanks to get revamped next lol
Heavy Guard gets the job done as a starter, basic tank class. Other than that, it's alright.
I can definitely see where Variable Turret suffers, and it does seem like it’ll be worth a lot less in end-game, but I’m in chapter 4, and I can honestly say that I’ve found it comes in handy. Maybe I’m just bad at building my team but I’ve been able to get a good hold on aggro and pop turret when a boss starts a big attack to negate damage and still keep aggro. Paired with Ultimate Counter it definitely feels like it does good work. Anyway these guide are really helpful and I appreciate them a lot cuz I can tell you right now I wouldn’t be where I am without them.😂 Also Lanz’ sword is just a Gundam weapon, and the only one I like from Gundam SEED so, gives me an idea for a model kit custom down the line
Oh boy he's here the M V P you were all thinking it
Keep it up, love your guides and your work in general
Variable Turret is my favorite art in the whole game, it's just so comically long, especially in a chain attack. And it goes ratatatatata.
Lone Exile is my favorite tank class to play as. Can't wait for your video on it.
One thing I noticed recently is that, for arts with long animation lag, you can use Quick Move to cancel the animation if you don't have an Art ready. More useful early game, but worth noting! (Doesn't work on interlink, since there is no Quick Move during interlink.)
Looking forward to your review/ impressions on the game
Thanks for the guide!
AND I WAS THE MVP YOUR ALL THINKIN' IT
“I’m controlling him myself and the AI is still taking aggro from me.”
You mean that isn’t just Tuesday?
I pair variable turret with wide slash to evade all damage during the long animation that's the best use i've found for it, pop it right after pulling aggro now if only i could keep that aggro. For being the talent art I wish mad taunt was better, when keeves soldiers use theirs you get target locked but you have to hope you the enemy will give you the time of day when you use it(or maybe that's just how it is on hard mode) What made mad taunt good on Reyn was that you could get it regularly quick and for doing nothing but make you a big target it combos into powering up a couple moves if they're used after it. In this game it takes me awhile to build it up(maybe that's me) and when i do get it I wonder if it did anything, it sure does nothing for any of your arts since they gave that bit away to deflector field.
Personally I really like tanking roles in games in general and gravitate towards them, specifically damage tanking evasion tanking is just a glass cannon poser. It thus causes me no end of grief when the optimal way to play in a lot of games i've played is to ditch the slow damage sponge and go full offense, no need for protection or healing if the enemy is already dead. Still trudging through hard mode I find guardian commander my preferred tank, it's just rough to control crowd aggro with them.
I like walking as a tank class cuz you have less risk of dying to a high level enemy, when I leap of the cliffs and notice by enemies with more health to get away. Attacker and healers gets worst HP in this game.
You definitely used your thinking muscle for this guide
I learned today they you can dash cancel fusion arts. Pretty cool if they have looking end lag
It was sad that Mio with Zephyr kept hogging aggro from lanz and dying in early game for me
Loving these guides, man. Keep it up.
Really sad that the beginning classes aren’t good compared to the rest of the other classes. Especially Tactician and Heavy Guard, because those didn’t have much going for them.
I mean, they are only beginning classes for a reason, if they were too powerful, there would be no reason to use any of the other classes. That’s how I see it.
*laughs in zephyr and ogre*
@@TheJaredPunch Zephyr and Ogre would like to have a word with you...
cant wait for whenever the stalker guide comes around, i think its pretty underrated so far
Man, this class seems so good at staying alive, a great thing in any situation expect a giant AoE that ohko’s all your healers anyway
Sorry, I’m just currently stuck on the second Y fight lmao, I’m 6 levels above this boss and it just keeps aoeing all my healers to death in enrage range
My biggest problem with Heavy Guard was that it was almost impossible to keep any aggro on them if another tank was in the party. Zephyr can get in way more hits at a faster rate, and therefore will always have a higher aggro than Heavy Guard. Their talent art is also pretty useless. Rarely managed to pull anything with it, and the taunt would wear off almost instantly. It's only saving grace is the high block rate, and even that isn't enough to make a tank class "great".
FYI you can dodge-cancel the endlag animation.
Your a mad lad. Please do video on setting up and what skills good master/ fusion arts =)
I think another way to skip the recovery cooldown is by quickstepping when art-cancelling isn't available
I had high hopes considering how broken Reyn could be in 1/DE
Busy day today so I didn’t get to watch this earlier but I’m here now! Speaking of now, now it’s Reyn time! Or wait it’s Lanz time I guess, doesn’t hit the same but Lanz is still cool.
I use this class with ring o roses and the troubadour recharge skill as well as the accessory that recharges arts on blocks. It can be kinda cool with the recharge buffs
Linking aerial slash to variable turret and fusing them make Lanz evade everything for a really long time, it’s probably not that much better but still fun to watch.
This and tactician are pretty good early game on hard mode even if they really suck later, variable turret and solid stance can actually see some use there to keep from instantly dying
Do you think Maximum Voltage would work better on this class? I used that instead of Glitter Stream along with Deflector Field when I switched to all default classes for the endgame.
I will say that Heavy Guard can come in very handy in the early to mid game, and you are naturally guarenteed to have it. It takes damage better then Zephyr or Lone Exile for a good while, making it a good fallback option. Variable Turret can also help in chapters 1 and 2 in hard mode. It's tank aura is also very handy, it's not RNG like the others and just gives a solid dammage reduction for anyone in range as well as having a larger range, giving it a fairly nice party utility in some AOE heavy fights. It does fall off more then the other tanks in late and post game though.
I use a crit-based Chaotic Memory set for Heavy Guard, having Aerial Slash and Jackal Claw for evasion, and mainly utilizing Variable Turret for it's super long animation and absurd hit count to rack up crits, and the guaranteed blocks are a nice bonus. It still maintains aggro pretty well, despite the slow animations.
Is it viable: no, not really.
Is it stupid: yes.
Is it funny: absolutely.
Combo that with eye for weak points & frenzied combo. It's super OP
@@stanleya.8805 Those were the main Skills, yes, and it's not OP. You probably won'd die, but it doesn't do as much damage as you'd think.
@@ivythay4259 well ofc a defender won't do big damage like an optimized attacker. But if a defender could hold aggro well and literally never die, isn't it super viable enough? And you could get access to this before postgame and the weaker version way before.
HG was the MVP throughout my low level hard mode run. Other defenders cannot survive as well if underlevelled.
Laughs in variable turret + wide slash fusion art, stupidly long full evasion
Just started video, unfortunate that my feelings towards class in first half of game I left as comment in zephyr video are unfortunately feeling like confirmed if you're not keeping yourself as the class to mitigate the issues when trying to compete with quicker tank classes, excited to see how to make full use of it though!
Zephyr is atleast functional with AI
now one thing i havnt bothered to test my self just yet but does appear to work with longer animation arts is any of the evasion ones like wide slash, can it be paired with variable turret to give the full duration of the art evasion instead of block. be it this will ask you to keep aggro up, but if you can keep up and also get the buff evasion i can see some weird use for this
for the full meme i put an evasion master art and tied it to variable turret so i can farm talent gauge but i know it isnt worth it but its hilarious
If there's one complaint I have for this game is the lack of defender classes with only 5 in the base game.
I get it might be hard figuring out several classes to do the same thing but even I thought up vamp tank concept a tank that syphons health to sustain themselves.
So I wasn't wrong in thinking AI tanks were pretty bad.
I have been playing him with the machinegun art bc for some reason it give me a ton of PT on chain attacks, fine to end a round with a Tank class + reach those 150% sometimes
That might be the only use for it since it's so many hits
The one benefit I like of this class over other tanks is the 30% damage reduction to nearby allies. Helps my ai controlled party members not instantly die to any aoe
that and the fact the defensive circle around you is pretty big so you can end up shielding quite a lot of people with it.
Granted, I haven't beaten the game yet, I only just finished chapter 5. Therefore I don't know how viable it will be in late game, but I LOVE using the Rigid Support accessory with face tanks. I make sure my block rate is high and get that sweet art recharge.
I’m going to say it, but I’m going to be doing something special for the final boss fight of Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s base game. And that will be having the party have the classes they started off with at the start of the game for the final battle. Noah will be Swordfighter, Mio will be Zephyr, Eunie will be Medic Gunner, Taion will be Tactician, Lanz will be Heavy Guard and Sena will be Ogre. This will be possibly very tough for me taking on the final boss with the party’s starting classes, but if I manage to defeat the final boss with the party’s starting classes, it WILL be worth it.
WAIT! I'VE FOUND OUT SOMETHING THAT MAKES LANZ'S ART FINISHING ANIMATIONS NOT SLOW!
After you hit the enemy with the art, quickstep to enter out of the animation!
One day blocking tanks will be good, one day
You can fuse Variable Turret with Shield Wall to extend the regeneration from 3 to 8 ticks.
It's definitely still a meme, but it is funny!