This is a guide for the N boss fight in Chapter 7 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, taking place in the Origin Interior.

How to Beat N¶

N Phase 1¶

It’s time for one final showdown with N, who has stripped away the “Moebius” moniker before his name now. By now, you’ve fought N enough times that you should know how the majority of this battle will play out. Of course, you’ll notice the increase in damage due to N being Lv 68 but you’ll also notice that he’s far more aggressive although still lacks an auto-attack.

You’ll also notice that there’s no Enrage marker on his HP gauge, this should tell you that there’s two phases to this battle. Below, you can find a recap of N’s Arts along with the new ones he has for this first phase:

• Blood Moon: N will unsheathe his blade and strike a single target, causing moderate damage and inflicting the Bleed debuff.

• Shred the Strawman: N will strike a single target, dealing moderate damage and inflicting Physical Defense and Evasion Down along with causing Topple.

• Chimera: N will strike a single target multiple times, dealing moderate to major damage based on how many hits connect.

• Glimmering Swiftblade: N swings his blade around him, dealing moderate AoE damage to all targets around him.

• Kenotic Purge: N will charge, granting himself the Attack Up and Critical Rate Up buffs.

• Wraith’s Swordplay: N’s only new Art in phase 1 sees him jump into the air and slashes four times at a single target, dealing moderate damage and the bleed debuff. Anyone immediately next to the target will also suffer damage.

You won’t have to worry about an Enrage for this first phase, but that doesn’t mean you should underestimate N as you’ll find he’s tougher than when he was Enraged the last time you faced him. He uses Arts with great frequency, and they deal more damage than they did before.

Of these, Blood Moon and Wraith’s Swordplay’s ability to inflict the Bleed debuff at will means you’ll almost certainly be dealing with it throughout the battle. If you find yourself struggling this, consider a War Medic or Valdi to help with Cure Bullet (but not at the expense of a Signifier).

Kenotic Purge becomes a great cause of concern once more as his already high damaging Arts will get a nasty boost with the Critical Rate and Attack Up buffs, if you have the chance to cancel the Art, do so. Chimera becomes especially deadly after he has his buffs, often dealing major damage to anyone but Tanks.

Don’t let the HP gauge fool you here, you will need to deplete all of N’s HP to force a cutscene and the start of phase two so don’t sit on Chain Attacks or Lv 3 Interlinks waiting for the battle to end early. You may find you’ll need your Chain Attack for taking a breather and recovering your HP rather than straight up damage.

N Phase 2¶

Phase two of this battle is where the true difficulty comes from as you’ll have to deal with a whole battle of N being Enraged. That means that while Burst is useful to get a moment to heal, it’s not as reliable as he’ll spend the entire battle in that status.

He’ll also get several new Arts along with upgrading old ones in this phase, which you can learn more about below:

• Glimmering Swiftblade EX: N swings his blade around him, dealing moderate AoE damage to all targets around him and causes Knockback.

• Wraith’s Swordplay EX: This is the same as above, just with increased damage to the Art and it must now be charged.

• Kenotic Purge EX: N will charge, granting himself the Awakening buff.

• Quantum Moment: N charges behind a single target and slashes upwards, causing moderate damage and inflicting Launch.

• Essence of Chimera: N will follow-up Quantum Moment with a lethal slash that slams the target to the ground for moderate damage.

• Primal Chronos: N will slash multiple times across the battlefield, dealing moderate-major damage to all targets.

N is a real threat in this second phase, his Arts come at a frighteningly quick pace, and they deal even more damage than they did in the first phase. Chimera is especially deadly in phase two and unless a Tank has aggro of N, it’s unlikely anyone else will survive unless you have HP accessories/Gems equipped.

You’ve seen Glimmering Swiftblade EX before, but Kenotic Purge EX will change the buff he gets now, changing it up for an Awakening buff which increases his defense and Arts speed. Wraith’s Swordplay EX, however, has no new effects but instead will just increase the damage it deals making it especially worrisome if it hits multiple characters all the while inflicting the Bleed debuff.

There are three new Arts that he has available to himself in this phase too, although the second one is dependent on the first. Quantum Moment will have him dash behind a character and launch them in the air, he can then follow that up with Essence of Chimera which will cause him to smash that character into the ground. A non-Tank character taking both hits will suffer major damage so get ready to possibly revive at the end of it.

The final new Art, Primal Chronos, is one that is used rarely (we only saw it once) and with its lengthy charge time, you should be able to stun him out of it before he can get it off. If he does, however, he will slash multiple times around the battlefield, dealing moderate-major damage to anyone in a large AoE. Needless to say, if you see the name appear above his HP gauge, do everything you can to Break him!

This final phase of N allows him to live up to his role as one of the game’s main antagonists, it’s a tough battle that outputs a lot of damage. You’ll need multiple Chain Attacks and don’t be afraid to switch into your Interlinks to soak up some of the damage that comes your way. If you struggle with just the two Healers, consider bring Miyabi as a third Healer, you’re more than likely going to need her. As always, controlling Noah and using Lucky Seven when it’s available is a massive boost to your damage output.