Final Boss Battle - Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Guide - IGN (2024)

In Xenoblade Chronicles 3's final boss battle you'll take on Z in an all-out slugfest consisting of unique conditions, several stage variants, and five different phases.

In this guide, we'll outline what you can expect in Xenoblade Chronicles 3's final battle and provide some tips that can help you during your showdown with Z.

Final Boss Battle

Z Battle Phase One

To start the battle, Z will cast an Interlink Seal Debuff that prevents you from entering your Interlink form and from using Chain Attacks. Without the crutch that these powerful combat tools can provide, you'll need to heavily rely on the effective management of Healing Arts.

All of Z's attacks inflict significant amounts of damage and without the healing output Chain Attacks and Eunie/Taion's Interlink can provide, your allies can quickly fall to low HP if you don't have sufficient healing.

After you've chipped away a sliver of Z's HP, he'll activate a stage effect that makes the arena icy and lowers your movement speed. This is a relatively minor inconvenience and after trudging through the ice to get within striking range of Z, you should barely notice the effects.

Next, Z will set the stage ablaze, and geysers will shoot out lava and burn anyone within the geyser's radius. You can easily avoid taking burn damage since it's easy to pinpoint where and when a geyser will appear. However, the Characters you're not controlling will have no such luck. Cycling through each party member to move them out of harm's way is difficult and using the "Follow Leader" tactic can be unreliable. The only way to deal with this brief stage effect is to pay extra close attention to allies low on health to ensure the burn doesn't finish them off.

With the flames survived, Z will conjure a protective barrier that greatly mitigates damage and makes your Arts worthless. One by one your party members will regain their Interlink and Chain Attacks and by using Ouroboros Orders you'll destroy the barrier.

Now that you have access to your full arsenal of attacks, cut through Z's health and Noah will use Lucky Seven to destroy the Amphitheater to enter Phase Two.

Z Battle Phase Two

In Phase Two, Z's true form will be revealed, they'll level up to Level 75 and you'll both start the battle on full health. Were it not for the floating evil head, this phase would be the most basic as it doesn't include any gimmicks or major handicaps. Play methodically and this phase shouldn't be too much of a struggle. With that being said you should prepare for the following attacks:

• Archon Purge - Attack that fires in a straight line and penetrates through all Characters in its path. Dishes out anywhere from 600 to over 1500 damage on each target.
• Moonless - AOE attack that outputs significant damage while inflicting targets with the Topple Reaction. Party members have a chance to evade or resist this attack but they'll otherwise be Toppled instantly.
• Moebius Breath - Strikes a single target for over 2000 damage.
• Hand of Origin - Lasers slash across the battlefield hitting everyone in their path. There seems to be no way to intentionally evade this attack so you'll have to rely on your party's evasion stats to avoid taking damage.
• Gravity Catastrophe - AOE move that inflicts various Debuffs, sometimes even dealing several Debuffs to a single ally.

Z Battle Phase Three

After erasing Z's health a second time you'll enter two brief phases, and in the first, you'll have to take on an embodiment of X. In Phase Three you'll only have access to the Kevesi Characters: Noah, Eunie, and Lanz.

While this phase of the battle isn't necessarily more difficult than the previous one, you might find yourself in a tougher fight if you have an unbalanced composition. For instance, you may start off the battle against Z with two Healers in the party. But if the Healers are all Agnian party members, you'll find yourself with minimal healing in this section of the fight.

Still, a balanced squad is by no means a requirement so you shouldn't feel obligated to adjust your Classes prior to battling Z. After falling to 50% HP, X will Topple the Kevesi group to immobilize them and trigger a cutscene where reinforcements will arrive to help.

The reinforcements will consist of Heroes you've unlocked but they tend to vary depending on your party. Though the Heroes will help you wipe out the rest of X's health pool, you needn't worry about their health since they don't formally enter your party and thus their health is not shown next to your active Characters.

Z Battle Phase 4

Phase Four is similar to the previous one except you'll now have to face Y and the Agnian squad has the luxury of having your party's preselected Hero in the fight for extra support. Additionally, your reinforcements will join you at the beginning of the fight instead of when your opponent reaches half-health.

As mentioned, the reinforcement Heroes are not fully implemented into your party meaning they will not partake in Chain Attacks.

Z Battle Phase 5

In the Final Phase, your party will be fully reunited to take on Z for the last time. In this engagement, Z will unlock additional moves including:

• Origin Punishment - Massive swipe capable of Toppling and Dazing your entire party in a single attack.
• Astraea - Casts a tornado-like projectile that hits all targets in its path.
• Grandmaster - Z uses this move to give themselves stat increases.
• Moebius Diffusion - Large blast that causes Knockback on all damaged targets.
• Infinite Finale - Projectiles fall from the sky like rain. Projectile damage stacks until the move is over which makes it one of the most powerful tools in Z's arsenal. Try to save an Interlink or your Chain Attacks to act as a fail-safe that can be used when this move inevitably decimates your team.

When you cut Z down to 50% HP, you'll enter a brief cutscene in which Queen Melia and Queen Nia enter the fray and hit Z with unique combos before joining you in the fight. From this point forward, you're in for a standard showdown.

As always, winning the battle will be heavily contingent on maximizing the effectiveness of your Chain Attacks. When given the opportunity, try your best to convert your Chain Attacks into Ouroboros Orders to amplify your damage output. Plus, don't forget to use Chain Attacks defensively to save an ally on low HP or to heal up several members of your squad at once with ever-valuable AOE Healing Arts.

Chain Attacks also give you a higher likelihood of landing Reactions so use your squad's Arts strategically to perform Art Combos. After you've drained the last of Z's HP, you've finally vanquished the villain and after watching the subsequent cutscenes, you've now completed Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

If you finish watching Xenoblade Chronicles 3's final moments and you still have questions about the game's conclusion, check out our Ending Explained guide for some additional clarification.