This is a guide for the first part of the first boss fight in Chapter 1 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, taking place in Alfeto Valley in the Aetia region.

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The Three Agnus Soldiers is the first boss battle in Chapter 1.

How to Beat the Three Agnus Soldiers¶

Name	Level	Type
Agnus Defender	8
Agnus Healer	8
Agnus Attacker	8

This battle is just a prelude to the tougher battle that follows, but your opponents are no pushover and are far beyond the Agnus grunts you’ve been cutting down along the way.

The immediate thing you should notice about your opponents is that they mirror your own. There’s a Defender, Attacker, and a Healer, and knowing which order to take them out is the main puzzle of this battle. Thankfully, it’s an easy one to solve as it should be of no surprise that so long as Agnus Healer is alive, it’s going to be an uphill battle while he heals his comrades.

All three of your adversaries have several skills they’ll use against you, they are as follows:

Agnus Healer¶

• Hazy Figure: Agnus Healer will cast the Decoy status on the enemy party. The Decoy status will cause a set number of attacks to miss.

• Overfall: One of Agnus Healer’s attack Arts, this will deal minor damage if you’re standing in Lanz’s defensive circle. It will also inflict Ether Defense down on the target.

• Stormy Skies: This is a group heal on the entire party, healing for around 500+ HP to each enemy.

Agnus Defender¶

• Wide Slash: Agnus Defender will launch forward with her chakrams and deals moderate damage to a single target. It will also lower her critical rate but increase her evasion for a short time.

• Air Fang: Agnus Defender will deal moderate damage to a single target. It will also boost the damage to anyone targeting her.

• Butterfly Blade: This will deal minor damage to a single target while increasing her aggro against all of your party members.

Agnus Attacker¶

• Giant Swing: Agnus Attacker will swing her giant hammer at a single target inflicting major damage and knockback.

• Hammerhead: This is Agnus Attacker’s least damaging attack, but it will deal more damage if she’s not attacking Lanz and attacks Noah or Eunie from the side.

• Big Impact: This will deal moderate damage to a single target and deal knockback provided she’s attacking her target from the front (which is usually Lanz).

With this information in mind, the goal in this battle is simple. You’ll want to take out Agnus Healer as soon as possible to avoid him increasing the other two soldiers’ evasion and healing them. Lanz should be holding his attention, so use Noah’s Sword Strike to begin a Topple Combo on him. You won’t have Overclock Buster ready yet, but you’ll still deal more than half of his HP in this process. From there, Edge Thrust (from behind) and Air Slash (should you have it set) will make short work of him.

Focus your attention on Agnus Defender next. As the Tank of the squad, she’ll be sturdier and her Arts will increase her evasion and attack power so you don’t want her hanging around for too long. By now, you should have Overclock Buster available so start a Topple combo and use it when the Defender is hopefully Dazed.

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(1 of 3) With Healer standing away from Defender, focus you attention on him first

The final target should be the Agnus Attacker, she’ll deal by far the most damage to your party, but left alone, is more than enough for Eunie to manage with her healing. The main Art to watch out for is Giant Swing, not only will it deal significant to (most likely) Lanz, but it will also cause Knockback. If Lanz is already damaged, this could put him in critical HP so hopefully Eunie is quick on the draw to heal him.

If you follow this pattern for the battle, you should have little issue, your enemies very much mirror your own party so it should be nothing you can’t handle. Don’t rest yet though, another, far more challenging opponent, follows this battle!