timestamps: 7: 1:02 6: 5:11 5: 8:49 (spoilers) 4: 10:38 3: 14:24 2: 18:15 1: 22:23 So what's the verdict? Am I dumb and is your favorite character actually the best?

The right tier list S+: Heropon Riki S: Bird Lady Melly A: Sidekicks F: Smelly Orluga reyn

"All Monado Enchant does is allow normal weapons to affect Mechon and adds a tiny damage bonus" "Yup" "Everyone in the party has Machina weapons, which can damage Mechon without using Enchant" "Yup" "So using Enchant offers very little advantage whatsoever and is a clear waste of the Talent Gauge" "Makes sense to me" "Use Monado Armor" "YOU'RE NOT INVINCIBLE"

i still think Dickson, Mumkhar, and Alvis are better. Being indestructible and beating Avalanche Abassay at lv1 without topple can't be underestimate

Skipping to the end of the video so i can see sharla at number 1

Enel: puts Riki 2nd last "Enel you're embarrassing Riki"

I like how Enel calls Break+Topple+Daze a Driver Combo even when talking about the first game

Dunban has a good ai until he uses Blossom Dance on an enemy one auto attack away from death

"You have 5 seconds to pause the video" -Gets an ad that can be skipped after 5 seconds

Tier list version: S: Everyone except Sharla A: B: Sharla

You really wanna know how to make Sharla even worse? Link Glorious future to her. As soon as you get a vision, she does what she always does: cool down in the middle of a dangerous moment

“Melia is definitely really nice” Ouch even Enel friendzones best girl.

Such a shame for Sharla. I actually like her as a character; her heat-to-hearts with Reyn make me smile, what can I say. If cooldown released all that built-up heat in a strong blaze attack she would be way cooler and I think much more viable. I never finished the game on Wii, I think in part because I stuck with Shulk, Reyn & Sharla as I couldn't see how to cope without a dedicated healer. It turns out you absolutely can after about the point you get Riki. Mix it up people, the game is so much more enjoyable once you start experimenting and relinquish control of Shulk once in a while. I found way more success and fun playing as Dunban, Reyn, or Melia.

Just casually soloing Final Marcus with a level 1 Reyn in the background...

Reyn to the rest of the party: What a bunch of jokers

Hi folks, just here to give you your daily reminder that Poppi QT Pi can do over 200 million damage in a single special hit with the damage cap removed

To emphasize how bad Shulk's AI is, I was fighting a Mechon UM that has a spike and the other two characters had Machina weapons equipped. The first thing Shulk does is use Monado Enchant instead of Monado Purge and my team ends up losing the fight despite being 10 levels higher than the UM.

Dunno, I think Mumkhar should be no.1

Alright, Sharla time. Both times I've played through this game Sharla has been absolutely essential throughout the early and midgame. Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla make a great chain attack party for most midgame unique monsters if you give her headshot and headshaker. In each chain attack you can break with Shulk, topple with Reyn, then combo 3 daze arts, use Shulk's talent art, then sword drive or something similar, and then headshot. Sometimes headshot even inflicts instant death which is quite nice, but it also deals really nice damage throughout the midgame. In my first playthrough when I didn't fully grasp the game mechanics, I never would have beaten the final fight with Metal Face because everyone just killed me so fast. I tried using Riki as a healer first, but his healing was never enough. Sharla was exactly what I needed to survive long enough to beat that fight. I get that she isn't great in the endgame, but I can't emphasize enough how crucial of a crutch she is to new players who aren't running optimal builds. I imagine the majority of new players will keep using her because in many JRPGs you always have a healer. It just feels wrong that she gets so much hate when I can't imagine beating this game blind without her.

I think it demonstrates how well balanced the characters are that even the bottom tier characters on this list are relatively useable. Only character I really wish Monolith Soft had changed was Sharla, she completely just gets the short end of the stick

I'm late to this party but I'm pretty sure the reason your Reyn guide has low views it's because even a beginner like me can easily see his viability. The tools he has available are very straightforward and it makes him easy to use effectively even if you don't understand the ins and outs. Tank? Burst damage? Topple lock? Or a mix. Great character for sure

The best part about not putting melia on the bottom 3 is that this gives us an opportunity to stick a middle finger to ign’s review on how melia is one of the weaker characters, and thus deserves a much lower score >:)

I swear Melias AI has been majorly improved in DE because for me she seems to use her force topple quite often and never holds on to elementals. Like she plays really good on the AI in my playthrough.

How to fix sharla: cool off talent art now has the same effect as her aura drive boost. Drive boost art replaced with a red art that inflicts a debuff. I’d use her then.

Man I haven't watched yet but I guessed for fun. Looks like I only messed up one placement: 7: Sharla 6: Riki 5: Seven 4: Melia 3: Shulk 2: Dunban 1: Reyn I've been trying to level up everyone else's affinity through sidequests, combat related to sidequests or random shit (along the way to completing said horrifying amount of sidequests) so I've only controlled Shulk maybe like an hour out of the last 25 hours of gameplay. Forgot how much shit he can do when he's not controlled by a janky AI lmaooo

I find it interesting that Reyn is basically good in the same way that QTpi is, and shares a similar party role: the meat tank that a lot of players ditch in favor of the blink tank for being less resource-intensive, but comes to be the strongest party member through having extreme burst damage and unmatched skill at Topple locking.

The heropon may be number 6 on the list, but he will always be number 1 in our hearts.

I pretty much expected Sharla at low tier but I think it really says something when the lowest tier character can take out a superboss pretty easily.

Sharla would actually be much more useful if you could just use cool off in a chain attack. It would help with the multiplier and she could cool the rifle off without taking the risk of being vulnerable while the opponent is attacking

It’s reyn time

Glorious Future Sharla must be 0th place.

Poppi QTPi, and she’s not even in the game. All jokes aside, my favorite character to control is Dunban. I guess I just never really utilized Reyn well enough

Reyn is also my favorite. He's just so reliable with his insanely powerful arts, his aggro raising abilities, his topple to daze combo, and his great defense and HP stats. Also, I just love his personality, character arc, and implied relationship with Sharla.

When Enel spoils the party member in Melia's bit

70% aren't subscribed, ummm why aren't you? Enel is the best.

Giving my man Reyn the spotlight he deserves! He's very underrated in my opinion. Fiora is surprisingly low. I've seen people claim that she's the best character in the game, so it's interesting to see her in the bottom half of the list. Melia right in the middle is great in my opinion. If AI Melia was as good as Player Melia she would be best character no questions asked, but since her AI is worse than Sharla's Talent Art, I think her placement is good. I've noticed that you mainly talk in the context of time attack and superbosses, which is fine, since those are by far the most difficult in the game and as such differences in character performance become more noticeable. Reyn specifically becomes a god in time attack, as you said. If we're looking at the entire game the list probably wouldn't change that much. Sharla would still be bottom tier, Fiora would still be bottom half since she isn't around for half of the game and Shulk would be above Reyn since player controlled Shulk is just necessary during early- to midgame Mechon and Telethia fights (which there are a lot of). Overall, great list, wouldn't change anything to be honest.

I never properly appreciated Reyn as a fighter during my initial Wii playthrough (in which I was pretty dang bad at the combat in general), and only really got a hang of him when I played Future Connected and Nene became my go-to party leader. Now I really get why you have him as #1! I'm really, really enjoying your content, Enel, and am definitely gonna check out your in-depth character videos to get an even better idea how to use everyone!

Sharla: F tier in terms of fun(my opinion) Broken rifle challenge: S tier meme

Something to note, DoTs will have their timer reset if the enemy is hit with the same type of DoT art. As such, Melia and Riki have a very strong Synergy, where Melia unloads high damage dots, and Riki sustains them until she can reapply. Riki's AI will usually do this by mistake consistently since it spams his ether arts

w00t! Agreed! Reyn time! One thing players need to realize is that endgame optimization revolves around taking out monsters as fast as possible. This allows them to attack less and prevent them from putting you in a bad position. If the monsters get momentum, you'll be forced to use heals, forced to get close to allies to wake them up or encourage them, etc. What Reyn provides is a very potent burst damage which gets you closer to the fast kill goal.Most bosses just fall to this one combo alone. I like running Back Attack Plus on him as that makes his burst damage even more disgusting. At the start of battle, using berserker let's other party members go in and take initial aggro, which allows Reyn to go backside and follow with the Magnum Charge to Sword Drive combo. If the AI somehow managed to inflict any physical defense down debuff along with Dundun's Peerless, it's glorious to see Reyn's burst damage number. From there he usually takes aggro and makes Back Attack Plus useless, but the monster should either be down or close to it at that point that it doesnt matter that much anymore. :)

I absolutely have an amazing time using any party members.... Except from Sharla. Seriously, the only "complain" I have with this game is that the party members are so fun to use and watch, but I have to pick only 3 every time. My battle preparation screens take so much time. XD

Your guides are absolute top tier mate. Subscribed

I think Dunban having the input prompt Talent Art (Blossom Dance) felt really unique pre-XC2. But wish in XC2 the driver and blade would shout a mantra like Dunban, at least at III or IV.

You are my goto guy when it comes to this series my man.

Also; technically when you activate the Monado and open up the Monado Arts pallete, it does count as an aura. Basically useless Aura, but still an Aura.

I subscribed! Your Fiora video made it an easy decision because you opened my eyes to some things i didn't consider. You have a great channel and this video is great as well.

My tier list: S+: Every Party member except Sharla (including temporary party members) F: Sharla

To compensate for Dumban's HP I remember one character (Sharla or Melia I think) has a passive that you can share that restores some HP whenever you crit. Used with his 100% crit art this actually gives him the fastest self-healing ability in the game.

Thanks again Enel, always love your insight and knowledge. Your passion for the game shows in all of your videos.

ive had some incredible experience with the ai in de, far more than others report. ive seen reyn (on ai) consistently berserk, magnum charge, sword drive, or melia on ai set up for devastating chain attacks, or just wreck final marcus' shit solo shulks pretty bad though. like absolutely atrocious

Just watching out for new people avoiding spoilers. The 7th party member is spoiled when enel goes through the menu in the sharla section of the video at 3:55.

You say that shulk doesn't have access to any auras but, according to the help thing that tells you about status effects, clicking on his talent art gives him an aura called "monado activated" which is the thing that lets him monado arts. Idk if this works with aura boosting skills or if there is any relevant aura skill but it's just something I noticed while playing.

Rex now is is now without a doubt a possibilty for smash lets go!

I really liked playing as Melia a lot this past playthrough. I like the fact that Starlight Kick can topple the enemy without breaking them first, it really speeds things up if you open with it. My go-to team was Melia, Reyn, and Dunban, and I found it to be pretty fun.

Haha jokes on you my favorite character is Reyn! Wait how would that be... This is a great video! This series has really helped me improve my combat strategies, so thank you.

Nice list~ Except for Fiora’s placement, I wasn’t too surprised with your placements after seeing each of the character guide videos.

Great video. I learned a lot from you!👍🏻👍🏻

I love how I dodged using reyn as much as possible during during my playthrough and would never give up on using sharla, even during the post-game:)

Appreciate the videos. Subscribed. Would you consider doing a video on the most effective team set ups? I feel like team differences can be bigger than individual character tiers.

Damn Juju is so bad he isn’t even on the list

Great content sir. Can i request for a party setup where you explain who is your main character and how do you setup the A.I. properly in terms of skills, arts.

So I finally got around to super boss hunting and with the help of these guides I had a really good set up going in and a game plan. The first 3 went down like nothing, blizzard’s topple spike really messed me up so that took a few tries and i just scraped the win, which had me worried for the last one. But I beat avalanche abbasey in one try by just completely shutting him down, even had a 15 link chain attack at one point. He got one art off and none of his auras. Back in the original I only ever beat the last two by hiding behind crystals but now I beat the toughest like it was nothing. And it’s all thanks to your channel so thank you so much, as far as I’m concerned there is no unsubscribe button 👏

Thanks so much for the tips, I'm gonna go build a team of Sharla/Riki/Seven now, of course with Riki in the lead

Enel, bro you read my mind with these videos, and i don't even know i want them.

Nice video. Tier lists are always going to be subjective. For myself I would place Melia and Shulk equal first place for DE because they are the most intricate characters to play in the main game (others can be well enough controlled by the AI), and they are also the main characters of the new Future Connected story. Not mentioned in the video, but Melia is very viable for endgame in a more topple-team setup for the Superbosses with more defensive gear/gem setup and her Spear Break/Starlight Kick arts (which work very efficiently at level 12) in addition to DoTs.

Fun fact: Sharla is S tier in a "No damaging combat arts" run. I also am a Masochist, unrelated.

Just completed the game fully for the first time. Looking to figure out what to do next (After the extra story content). Looking for advice, should I grind it out and play more of my cleared file? or Go NG+. Im wanting to eventually gett max affinity with everyone so i can see all the heart to hearts and such xD Thank fam!

In my playthrough, I thought for sure Melia was the best character in the game just because arts were the only ones that could actually hit the lv.90+ enemies during endgame; she's also by far the best character in chain attacks. I wasn't aware of night vision gems so I thought everyone else, especially Reyn, just weren't as good.

Reyn can do WHAT? Honestly this is my favorite game of all time, but I haven’t dabbled in the “make your characters busted” aspect of it, so this is all very new to me! Now I want to find auto-attack break things to solo as Reyn now 😂

It’s a really strong party of characters cos even though Sharla is obviously the worst she’s still a really great healer for most of the game and if you play it safe she’s an anchor on most teams alongside a character to draw aggro and one to deal the damage

Ah damn early to an Enel vid? Hell yeah

So I know you put in timestamps for the party member number 7, but in your footage of Sharla you show the parry screen with all the characters lol.

For Sharla's talent art, Enel makes it clear that it would be nearly impossible to let anyone die. It might not have been necessary as there are other ways to gimp her healing abilities, but they just went with the cooldown talent art. They couldve just increased the cooldowns of her skills more, so they can give her a more useful talent art instead. At the very least anything that does something good in a chain attack to contribute to dealing damage and increasing chain attack multiplier. Maybe something like "Talent Art: Pinpoint Weakness - makes sharla immobile and unable to act for a few seconds but great increases team's critical hit chance and critical attack damage for the duration. Or as a single turn action in a chain attack that provides the same buffs until the chain attack ends so she can join and benefit from her buffs just until the end of that chain attack." This can gimp her healing, allow her to deal damage through other active party members, and gives her a decent reason to participate in chain attacks. Just a thought that i think would be cool to share.

I love how when talking about Reyn he´s just topple loking Marcus

I also want to add for Shulk that you can start with a full talent art gauge every battle by using Battle Soul from afar, then stopping the battle and doing it over again. You can do the same with Dunban too.

I'd love a video where you mention what we should do before starting "New Game +" :3

Fiora, Riki, and Dunban is a versatile party for me (I'm level 78, near the end of the story mode). Dealing with enemy talent arts is difficult though.

Random question: does highlighting a skill tree for a character activate all unlocked skills for them? For example shulks bravery tree is highlighted he gets access to his own skills from that branch?

Its been a while since I've played, just got Melia where I left off and I love using Dunban but he suffers for now in that I don't have access to equipment for gems or really good equipment in general so he doesn't hold aggro well at all, but i know he'll get some eventually

Hmmm... I learned 5 seconds is longer than i thought when theres just nothing happening lol. Great video

After 3 comes out I can't wait for the class tier list

Love the tier list man.

When I look at characters 7-2: "What a bunch of jokers!"

I could watch you kill superbosses all day. It’s so satisfying.

Reyn missing Wild Down in the B Roll for Dunban hurt my soul...

Next video would be interesting if you show us how to unlock all the extra skill trees.

I have a question, with melia's elements, if you summon the same element more than once do you get their passive buffs multiple times?

How would you rate characters if not on just pure end game utility but also taking into account their contributions throughout the game (under the assumption that you are always around or slightly below enemy level)? I think Riki has a ton of utility in the mid game that sort of goes away by the end when you have skills unlocked to allow very reliable chain attack strategies and party gauge/talent gauge control. I'm also hoping they eventually add a Bringer of Chaos style difficulty upgrade or a challenge mode that's actually a challenge rather than just time attack, the end game feels a bit too easy at the moment.

Can you edit AI abilities at all? I'm confused how to get topple-locking to work w/o being able to control your allies

if your looking for alot of content i would love to see a full how to use video for all the blades and drivers in Xenoblade 2

Reyn is #1 because Enel mostly cares about optimized speed cheese kills. Nothing wrong with that when you can beat the game with any character, but Shulk/Dunban/Melia/Riki come in handy more to me when it comes to getting through mandatory boss fights with the least amount of trouble and general flexibility. But all of the characters outside of Sharla are at least good if not great and have their uses. And offensive Reyn is a build everyone should at least mess around with a little bit and clearing out trash mobs with him is always fun.

I played the original back in 2013, and people on forums were saying that Reyn was the worst, but I actually couldn't beat the final boss until I swapped out for Reyn. I believe I had Shulk, Reyn, and the medic.

This was very helpful thank you

Wait you forgot Fiora, the legendary Homs

How does Shulk have the Junk Sword appearance? Is it a NG+ thing?

Love this guides. Finally someone who knows what he is talking about. Mild criticism: You should try not to repeat yourself too often. You are extremely knowledgeable about this game and how to play but it feels like you missing the structure to keep these short and informative. Not that I don't like elaborate explanations tho.

Watching your video I learned a lot about Xenoblade thanks honestly now I'm not sure if Melia is best. I think it may actually be between her, ryn and Dunban. If I was to say who's the best based on what you said I'd honestly say Dunban his evasion sounds completely broken and his talent art is so good. Oh and shulk could also be a contender for the best based monado armor alone, which I'm still pissed I sold instead of learned :/ I'd put Sharla as the worst, for sure riki is so much better at healing and a lot else.

Xeno saga music in the background. Nice👍.

Thanks to that bit at the beginning I realized I wasn't actually subscribed despite watching your Xenoblade content for almost a year now

My list is similar but I have dunban over shulk just because of the AI. I basically always have to play as shulk when playing a tougher enemy. Also I love reyn but I think in the mid game he's not the best and gets outclassed by dunban for tanking but when he starts going for damage then that's when he gets really good.