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Xenoblade Chronicles
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Unique Monster Advanced Art Manual Drops
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By Amarise
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Table of Contents
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{1.} Version History
{2.} Introduction and Information
{3.} Tips and Hints
{4.} Art Manuals by Unique Monster
{5.} Unique Monsters by Art Manual
{6.} Credits, Copyrights and Contact Info
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{1.} Version History
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V 1.0, June 2014-Began recording the various drops from UMs via pencil and
paper while sitting in front of my TV.
V 1.1, July 2014-Started transferring all of the data from said paper onto my
computer. Added all of the things that make a FAQ a FAQ.
V 1.11, July 2014-Added a few tips, corrected a couple of typos, fixed an error
in one of the UM's manual drops.
V 1.12, October 2014-Fixed a bit of incomplete information, corrected a few
typos.
V 1.13, February 2015-Fixed an error in one of the UM's level.
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{2.} Introduction and Information
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========
Welcome
========
When I first began playing Xenoblade Chronicles, there was so much information
to absorb that I focused on the things I considered more important, such as
figuring out the battle system and completing quests, and figured I'd learn the
rest along the way. Included in 'the rest' was Advanced Art Manuals, which I
considered helpful but not terribly necessary. As I got towards the end of the
game, however, the importance of being able to fully level up the useful Arts
began to make itself known to me, but by that time I'd put so much effort
into simply beating the game that I wasn't willing to go back and try to find
all of the manuals I'd missed. Research into Advanced Art Manuals prior to
beginning my first New Game+ revealed that no FAQ existed whereby I could
easily find which monster held the manual I needed, which led into my spending
countless hours resetting to learn what the fourth manual was in some treasure
chest, only to discover that it was for an Art of Riki's that I'd maxed out
fourty levels ago. During those frustrating hours it occurred to me that if I
wished for an easy-to-use guide containing a complete set of manuals, surely
other people did as well, and my third playthrough produced the document you
now see before you.
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Advanced Art Manuals
=====================
In Xenoblade Chronicles, every Art a character has begins at level one, with
the ability to level it up to level 4. In order to have the ability to rank an
Art up to 7, you must either find or purchase an Intermediate Art Manual. If
you wish to level an Art beyond 7, you must use an Advanced Art Manual, which
can only be found in gold treasure chests from high-level monsters. (Both UMs
and regular monsters can drop them, though this guide focuses soley on UMs.)
The only exceptions are Shulk's Monado Arts, which require reaching a certain
point in the game to be fully unlocked, one of Melia's arts, which can be
found in a special treasure chest in-game, and one of Shulk's normal arts,
which can also be found in a treasure chest. (Those manuals for non-Monado arts
can also be found in monster drops.)
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Unique Monsters
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A Unique Monster is one that has a name, awards an Affinity Coin the first time
it is defeated and always drops a gold treasure chest. There are many 'unique'
monsters in Xenoblade Chronicles, but only the ones which fit that description
are included in this guide.
The reasons for my making a guide focused soley on Unique Monsters are many.
First, Unique Monsters begin giving Advanced Art Manuals at level 45, which is
much earlier than normal monsters do. Second, you will likely be fighting these
foes anyway, both for the Affinity Coins they drop and because many quests
require you to kill them. Third, they always drop a gold treasure chest,
meaning you only have to fight them once before you can start the process of
looking for a specific manual. Finally, every single Advanced Art Manual can be
found with some Unique Monster, which means you don't have to go running around
fighting random normal monsters looking for that last Art Manual you need.
As I mentioned, Advanced Art Manual Drops begin at level 45 with Unique
Monsters, which is why I've only included UMs level 45 and up. However, not all
level 45+ UMs drop manuals, so I've included notes when the UM in question does
not. Of the ones that do drop manuals, each has a possible total of 4 manuals
that can be found, with 0-2 potentially available in any one chest.
There are basically two types of Unique Monsters in the world of Xenoblade
Chronicles: those that can respawn, and those that cannot. If the UM can be
found when you don't have a quest requiring you to kill it, it can respawn. If,
however, that UM only appears during a quest, that means you will only have one
shot at getting an Art Manual from it. There are additionally normal,
respawning UMs which are only available until certain events render them
inaccessible, and in both cases (quest-only and limited-time) I've included a
note. It should be stated that Unique Monsters that can respawn will not do so
100% of the time, simply that there is a chance they will every time you
reload the game.
Every UM has Art Manual drops that are more common and more rare, and as I
recorded them in the order in which I first saw them, whichever manuals are
listed first are likely to be the common ones with the fourth manual likely to
be the rarest one.
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Guard Shift
============
You may notice as you look through this guide that Guard Shift is the only Art
with a name beside it. That is due to the fact that the programmers (or
translators) made two characters that both use an Art called Guard Shift. One
of those characters is commonly called Seven, though it is important to note
that there is no actual character by that name in Xenoblade Chronicles. Seven
is simply what many use for the seventh party member to avoid giving spoilers.
I have added the name of which character the Guard Shift manual can be used by
to avoid any confusion.
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Closing
========
Finally, this guide is soley intended to help people who are wanting to know
which monster drops the Art Manual they're looking for. It is not a stat FAQ,
a location guide, or a strategy for beating these UMs. There are wonderful
guides which cover those topics, and I don't wish to infringe on anyone's
hard work by adding what I consider to be superfluous information. If you need
to find anything located on this page, simply use CTRL + F to conduct a search.
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{3.} Tips and Hints
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If at first you don't succeed, reload
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The contents of a treasure chest aren't determined until you actually open the
chest, so if you're trying to get a specific manual simply save before you
open the chest and reload the game if you don't find what you're looking for.
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Lure difficult UMs away before fighting
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Most UMs respawn, which can be helpful if you're wanting to rack up multiple
chests to better your odds of finding a certain manual, but can also be
dangerous if your party is barely strong enough to defeat it once. If you don't
want to fight a single UM multiple times, just lure it far enough away from
its spawning point so as not to be detected if it does respawn when you load
the game.
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Stack up those chests
======================
If, however, you don't mind fighting more than once, opening up multiple
treasure chests in one go can help increase the odds of finding that rare
manual. I typically fight the UM, save, then reload if I don't get what I was
looking for. If the UM respawns I just fight it before opening the chest I
already got, save, then open both chests. I've had up to 10 treasure chests
on the field at one time, though I typically don't like to have more than 5 as
most Unique Monsters take much longer to kill than a regular monster does.
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Know your enemy
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Many UMs have specific strategies or gem set-ups required to beat them. Spike
Defence is good merely as an overall principle, while Topple or Daze Resist is
occasionally necessary as well. Sometimes it can be helpful to save before
fighting a UM, see what is required for that particular fight, and then load
the game to make proper preparations.
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Know yourself
==============
It can be tempting when you come across that UM that's just a few levels above
your party, but if you don't have the necessary gems or equipment to make up
the difference in stats, (particularly towards the beginning of the game)
you're probably going to have your butt handed to you. My general rule of thumb
is, if I'm not handily defeating the normal monsters in the area, I need to
be above the UM's level before I try to take it on.
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Night Vision gems
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When fighting a UM that either has high agility or is more than five levels
above your party, Night Vision gems help to up the success rate of physical
attacks. They only work at night, however, so keep an eye on the clock.
===============
Where's my UM?
===============
Some Unique Monsters won't appear until after certain events within the game,
while others are only available for a limited time. If the monster you're
looking for is well above your level, chances are the necessary events haven't
taken place yet. If the monster is below your level and the area is still open
to you, it's possible you are either in the wrong area, wrong time of day or
wrong weather conditions, or that you already beat that UM once and it simply
hasn't respawned yet. As long as the UM wasn't one that only appeared during a
quest, reloading the game means that there's a chance it will reappear.
You Can Do It
Soothed Aglovale, Level 65, Agniratha (Limited Time)
Mysterious Barnaby, Level 75, Bionis' Leg
Fiendish Auburn, Level 78, Prison Island
Blizzard Belgasas, Level 114, Valak Mountain
Second Gear
Destroyer Salvacion, Level 59, Mechonis Field (Limited Time)
Cold Ageshu, Level 77, Prison Island
Frenzied Bana, Level 78, Frontier Village (Quest Specific)
Armoured Rockwell, Level 82, Bionis' Leg
Final Cross
Field Altrich, Level 76, Bionis' Leg
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{6.} Credits, Copyrights and Contact Info
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First of all, my thanks go to Monolith Soft and Nintendo for creating this game
which has rapidly become one of my favorites. Credit goes to Split Infinity for
the excellent Unique Monster Data FAQ, which I used the first time I played XC
and which I double-checked to make sure I hadn't missed any UMs when making
this guide.
This guide was created soley by me (amarise), and may not be used or reproduced
in any form except for private, personal use. No website other than Gamefaqs
has permission to post this guide in any way, shape or form. Any trademarks or
copyrights in this document are owned by their respective trademark or
copyright holders.
If you need to contact me regarding anything contained in this guide, simply
send me (amarise) a message here on Gamefaqs. If you have a question, please
check this guide carefully first to make sure it isn't answered somewhere
before contacting me.
