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

The party make an unusual find in Milick Meadows, bringing them into conflict with an unidentified man, who was searching for the same thing.

How to Start the A Gray Matter Quest¶

Before you can even begin this Quest, you’ll first need to have progressed the story in Chapter 3 and complete Valdi’s Hero Quest. The reason for this is because Valdi will teach you how to climb certain cliffs, and you’ll need that to access where this Quest begins. You’ll also want to ensure that you’re at least Level 26 before starting this Quest, the first battle is incredibly tough, especially for those of you playing on the Hard Difficulty.

Once you’ve met those conditions, make your way back to the Aetia region and return to the Kamos Guidepost Landmark, just north from the Hillside Hulk. From here, head northeast to the Climbing Point there to reach the plateau above. The enemies here are slightly higher, but continue heading to the highest point here to trigger the start of the Hero Quest and a tough battle.

How to Defeat The Mysterious Man/Gray¶

Gray is an incredibly tough encounter, especially if you’re coming into this battle at or below his Level (28). The good news, however, is that you only need to take him down to half HP, so you won’t have to deal with his Enrage. Still, this doesn’t make this battle any easier as Gray has plenty of deadly Arts available to him:

• Vengeance: Gray will leap back while performing an Ether attack on a single target, dealing moderate damage. If this target is facing Gray, it will deal increased damage.

• Showdown: Gray will perform a frontward AoE Ether attack on all targets, dealing moderate damage and inflicting Evasion Down.

• Executioner: This is another frontward AoE Ether attack on all targets that will deal moderate damage. Should Gray be attacking an enemy from behind, the damage will be further increased.

• Demolition: Yet another frontward AoE Ether attack on all targets, dealing major damage with a chance to ignore the target’s defense.

• Violent Streak: Gray will attack all around him with an Ether Attack that deals massive damage to all targets that bypasses defense and grants him evasion during the animation.

A look at Gray’s Arts will tell you all you need to know, they’re all Ether Attacks and they all hit extremely hard. To make life even more difficult, other than Vengeance, all of his Arts are frontward AoE for the most part.

Other than those of you controlling Tanks, you’ll want to ensure that the character you control is behind Gray at all times so that you avoid all but Violent Streak in terms of his Arts. You’ll need to have at least two Healer Classes for this battle, and possibly Valdi as your Hero too as there will be a lot of healing to do. Save Eunie and Taion’s Interlink for those moments when Healers may be incapacitated, and you need to pop Liberty Wing to revive them.

As you only need to bring Gray to half HP, make use of your Chain Attack whenever it’s available. Use it to restore your HP and then consider using orders that will increase your survivability. If you have Zeon as a Hero already, his Order can grant the party the very useful Armor Veil which will absorb some of Gray’s attacks while Valdi will be able to buff everyone with Regenerate.

You’ll want to try and keep your HP up for as long as possible as when he uses Violent Streak, it can very easily wipe out the entire party if they’re caught in it, especially on the Hard Difficulty. Keep at it, using Chain Attacks and eventually you’ll bring Gray down to half HP and end the battle, which is quickly followed by another.

Thankfully, your party has their HP restored before this battle so the Colony 23 Patrol should be nothing more than a formality, especially after the grueling battle against Gray. There are no Healers to worry about here, so pick a target and go wild, using Chain Attacks whenever they’re available to perhaps score an Overkill.

Following Gray’s Footprints¶

After the battle, you’ll get a quick tutorial on how to follow Footprints, of which the party suggests you begin your search at the bottom of this cliff. Return to Kamos Guidepost and head to the Quest marker, examine the ground and you’ll start to see some tracks. Follow these downstream and down the slope to eventually catch up with Gray and trigger a scene.

The following battle against the Colony 23 Patrol is a lot tougher than your previous one. There are still no Healers to worry about, but there are two Sagittarius mechs for you to worry about, both of which are Level 27. Focus on downing the three soldiers first before you focus attacks on each Sagittarius, you’ll almost certainly have to use Chain Attacks in this battle but with the aid of Gray, you’ve got the advantage.

Following the battle, you’ll learn very little about this mysterious man, but he does offer his name up at least, along with the promise to aid you should you need it, unlocking him as a Hero. Gray presents Eunie with the Full Metal Jaguar Class, a powerful Attacker Class.