This is a guide for the “Her Reasons” Hero quest in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It’ll navigate you through the necessary steps to starting the Quest and unlocking a new Hero, Alexandria.

How to Start the Her Reasons Quest¶

The Alexandria Hero Quest works differently from all of the other ones that have been available to this date. You can technically begin the Quest once you begin making your way to the Ribbi Flatlands as part of the main story. You’ll spot a over at the Dies Arch Landmark which triggers a scene introducing her and her team.

You may be fooled into thinking you can continue this right away, but you’ll need to be Level 40 for the battles at the end of it, along with the monsters you’ll find to the west of this part of Fornis. For that reason alone, you’ll want to hold off until you’re around Level 40.

There’s more to this Quest, however, as you have the ability to make life a lot easier for you. You’ll have to fight a challenging battle against Alexandria and her Squad leaders but you can, instead, find each Squad leader with their own team and take them out, removing them from the battle with Alexandria. Regardless, once you reach Colony Iota by heading northwest from Dies Arch, you’ll find Alexandria and begin the battle, starting the Quest in the process.

Where to find Alexandria’s Squad Leaders¶

As mentioned above, after the initial cutscene introducing Alexandria and her Squad Leaders, each of the four Squad Leaders will be with their four squads can be found in the Fornis and Pentelas regions. While these are entirely optional, eliminating them will remove them from the Alexandria boss fight, making it much easier as Alexandria is tough enough on her own.

Each of these Squad Leaders have a specific role they play with their own Squads and the battle against Alexandria should you not defeat them beforehand. Fili is a Defender, Chelle is a Healer, Rhyza is a Melee Attacker, and Sequoia is a ranged Attacker. All of them are Level 40 and the battles should be nothing more than taking on an Elite Level enemy at Level 40 provided you’re around the same level. Most of the Squad Leaders will fall quickly once you take out the other soldiers around them.

If you don’t defeat these before you reach Alexandria, you will have to deal with them in the battle too, this is especially troublesome if you’ve left either Fili or Chelle alive so it’s well worth going the extra mile to make life easier for yourself, especially if you’re playing on the Hard Difficulty.

Regardless of how you prepare, when you eventually make your way to Colony Iota, Alexandria will be waiting.

How to Beat Craftmaiden Alexandria¶

Craftmaiden Alexandria is no joke, and if you neglected to take out her Squad Leaders, you’re in for a world of hurt. If they’re in the battle, follow the usual routine of dispatching the Healer (Chelle) followed by the Defender (Fili) before you take out the two Attackers. You’ll want to do this as soon as possible so you can focus on Alexandria alone.

Alexandria herself is no pushover, and she has plenty of Arts that can cause problems, all featured around Critical Hits:

• Reversal Edge: Alexandria will swing her sword at a single target, dealing increased damage if that her target is in the middle of using an Art.

• Sidewinder: Alexandria strikes in front of her, dealing moderate damage to all targets in front of her and inflicting greater damage should any of those targets have their back to her.

• Etched Deep: Alexandria strikes a single target for moderate damage and inflicts the Break debuff on them.

• Luminous Illusion: A multi-hit strike that deals major damage to a single target.

• Mirage Divide: Alexandria swings her blade around her, dealing moderate damage to targets in an AoE around herself. Alexandria will also evade all attacks during the animation

That’s a lot of Arts, and Alexandria will often chain most of them together, giving your Tanks and Healers a lot of work to do. This is the reason why you don’t want to make this battle any harder for yourself by not defeating her Squad Leaders before starting this battle.

There are some Arts, like Reversal Edge and Etched Deep that aren’t too much to worry about on their own, but once she starts chaining it into her more damaging Arts, it can usually make the difference to incapacitate you. Luminous Illusion is her most damaging Art and it will deal major damage even to most Tanks, for this reason, try to ensure your Healers keep your party healed as close to full as possible.

The biggest threat, however, are both Sidewinder and Mirage Divide as both are AoEs and can hit hard, causing you to need full party heals constantly as she uses them in quick succession. Don’t be afraid to jump into Eunie and Taion’s Interlink to bust out some group heals, and you may also need to make use of Liberty Wing should your healers need reviving.

You’ll almost certainly want the 2:2:2 (Attacker, Healer, Defender) split for your party here and maybe an additional Tank or Healer if you’re fighting the entire squad. As for your Hero, consider taking Ashera along if you’ve unlocked her, she’s a competent Tank and the Armor Veil field she can place on the battlefield is useful for soaking up some of Alexandria’s more deadlier attacks.

The Quest doesn’t end there, unfortunately, as you’ve got yet another Moebius battle awaiting you!