So glad to see Shulk all grown up in Future Redeemed. He may not be super broken like Rex or Matthew, but he’s still fun to play. I just love how Monado Buster is Blossom Dance but with beautiful blue petals instead. He’s really carrying on Dunban’s legacy!
I really feel like Monolith Soft needs to take a step back and really consider revamping tanks in future games, assuming they continue with combat akin to the xenoblade games. Generally speaking, tanks can do their jobs effectively for most of a playthrough l, but once attacker damage scales to obscene levels, they literally can't keep up. I really think they need to change the way aggro works on a fundamental level, or do something else to make tanks worth using. Like with Hugo in Torna, he had a way to guarantee he took all aggro for 15 seconds, and it never failed. Unfortunately Target Lock is an awful substitute since it's a debuff LOL, but if they did more stuff like that, at least tanks could be more than just an extra body that needs to be revived.
As much as I loved playing Rex, when I tried out Shulk, I fell in love. I love offensive-ish tanks in games and Shulk is one of my favorite video game characters of all time so switching to using him the most is a no brainer
I was the same. As I was going through the game I didn't really know what to give Shulk for his Chain Attack bonus skill so I gave him one where he'd revive the whole squad during chain attack. I thought it'd never come up but when almost everyone was dead and only him and Nikol were alive, I used the final remaining members for a chain attack to attempt and maybe revive my healers giving me a chance. It worked somehow with only the 2 of them and Shulk saved the whole team just by staying alive long enough to get a chain attack going and save my team. That was really funny. And after that I gained a new respect for my tanks and decided to play him more.
"Stop there! I'll be your opponent!" "Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!" "Stop there! I'll be your opponent!" "Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!" "Stop there! I'll be your opponent!" "Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!"
I actually played as Shulk quite a bit. Playing as a Tank is the best way to ensure they are actually effective, but beyond that, I just liked doing Blossom Buster.
Off topic: Shulk's art lines are so god damn cool. The Monado Rage art call out is my favorite (he sounds like he's out for blood and I love it) and the Monado Cyclone/Soaring Tempest animation during unity combos looks amazing
From a gameplay perspective, it kinda sucks that Shulk took after Dunban instead of remaining the lite healer/really good support character that he was in 1, especially given how good healers are in 3. Hope the next Xeno game reworks aggro to make Tanks be able to maintain it better, as only chars who hit like hard like Reyn or Dunban seem to hold it, and to make debuffs a useful tool instead of having debuff resistance cripple them as an option.
@@lemmyxproeven then he dealt huge damage, and was huge support. I'd say healing is his least useful part. Although you don't really need a lot of healing in xc1
They downgraded Shulk in FR to the point where he is no longer himself in combat at first I like how he took inspiration from dunban but the fact MS use that as cheap excuse to copy paste all his arts "animation" from dunban and rename them shulk arts was absolutely lazy and awful
The difference between Monado Armor and the fused Edge Armor is that baseline Monado Armor is an armor veil field, while Edge Armor just straight up applies the armor veil buff in an area.
I wasn’t impressed by Shulk…until I fought against him and Rex in the challenge battle. He was actually really hard. Now if tanks could actually operate like that in the game, then I’d be excited about tank classes
Think what would greatly improve tanks abilities to gain aggro is by making the taunts they have force the enemy to target the taunt user (you know like how enemy tanks act).
@@N120Xeno yea, I found "kinda" to be the best of the worst. I wish it was guaranteed even for like 75% of the arts recharge time. That way it can still go wrong with losing aggro, but makes the moves work like they should
@@N120Xeno I saw another possible fix as well. But tanks should gain aggro for everything. Using arts should yield more aggro than other classes, and aggro moved should practically give you all the aggro. And I think the skills they learn should just straight up give them more damage. Not to outclass attackers, but enough to matter
I think the biggest problem with Shulk in fr is the fact that they tried to create a Xenoblade 1 style dodge tank (the Dunban inspirations are not even subtle), in a game where we have Xenoblade 2 Rex on crack. Good guide though.
I think Monado Armor+Heavy Rush is the best fusion art for Shulk. Besides the armour veil, it makes Monado Armour give power charge which really helps with Shulk's damage output and helps keep aggro.
I'm glad someone mentioned it. The only reason why the Monado Armor+Slit Edge for Edge Armor gives off AOE/Armor Veil despite the skill doing so already for party is that if you ask me it's meant more as an early game fusion art, (going in part by the low field range by itself at the start) but once you get to the final upgrade for Armor Veil then it becomes redundant, and you're better off pairing it with Heavy Rush.
I think the reason he didn’t mention it is because you can fuse Matthew’s Energy Boost with Revolt Uppercut and he can then give Power Charge to the entire party.
I actually started off with armor+rush for the power charge, but... well... the AI isn't terribly good about staying in fields that's beneficial to them or even staying out of fields that are literally burning them alive. So I ended switching for the buff that can stick to the teammates regardless of where they wander off to (though I might switch back for the power charge if I'm ever in a fight where I'm not as concerned about everyone dropping like flies)
Monado Armor at base grants armor veil to Shulk and creates an incredibly short duration field effect that gives everyone inside an armor veil effect while the field effect persists. Pairing Armor with Slit Edge changes the effect to simply grant armor veil to all nearby allies and removes the field effect entirely as it's obsolete. I'd say that if you've got Matthew set up to be giving power charge to the team, this pairing is easily the best.
Shulk wanted to be like dunban so bad but forgot to learn how to do peerless and also strip down to dodge more as well as do more damage. FD was a good attempt at making tanks better but the nodes are not strong enough. If they added an aggro stat and also buffed aggro gems and accessories tanks would be fixed for the most part with relatively little effort. Lyn in X and Hugo in Torna the best tanks in the series still.
Kinda, a tank solo of challenge mode gets tanks with like 90k HP and stacking abilities like Auto attack heal to make you indestructible. They probably shouldve nerfed attackers and gave the tanks the ability to get like 30k or more HP and made debuffs way easier
I played with Shulk from beginning to end and invested all on him early on, and I had a blast. What I did was pair him with Matthew for that instant Awakened status, using the Fusion of Monado Shield + Heavy Rush to get Power Charged Monado Busters or unfused Monado Purges. I found Monado Purge much better used alone than fused. By doing that, I never lost aggro and did pretty considerable damage.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Monado Armor/Slit Edge fusion art gives a proper Armor Veil buff to the entire party instead of a field effect, which I *think* results in a higher total damage absorption It also means you won’t be using up one of those 3 limited field effect slots on the field, assuming that still exists which I think it does
Postgame Spoilers When you get Shulk as a hero in the base game, his evasion spike is replaced with a skill that gives him awakening like Cammuravi. Considering he seems to want to be awakened for heavy rush and monado buster I wish this was in FR. Shulk can only consitently keep aggro if you can launch the enemy, then use his unity combo if it’s up, and even then that’s only for 20 seconds.
Even without that, it's so much easier to maintain awakening in the base game because we have things like Resonant Flag and Glittering Melody to share the buff and pause of respectively. Lategame enemies in Future Redeemed make it hard to even get awakening with how high their break resistance gets.
As much as I like the idea of Shulk taking after Dunban and being an evasion tank, it really doesn't make sense why he's not an attacker or even support character. He was really good at both of those in 1, and it feels like he's just turned into Dunban. Not necessarily bad, Dunban is really cool, but I feel like sticking with what made Shulk himself would've been best
Something I think they could've done with debuff resistance is split it up based on different debuffs like they did in Xenoblade 1, instead of just splitting it between debuffs from physical and ether attacks.
The party for this dlc was definitely more damage based than anything else, it makes for some very funny numbers during chain attacks and such but I feel like there isn’t a balance, in base xc3 you could play any class and be effective no matter who you’re controlling but in FR you only want to use the attackers since they’re the most optimal and useful in the players hands. Despite this I used shulk my whole play through but he definitely falls off post game😭 great guide as usual enel
Shulk may no longer feel it, but I do since he introduced me into the franchise via Smash Bros for 3DS. IMO the best item he could have had is the Legendary Biter so even Rex can't fight him in terms of bein an aggro magnet.
I find Shulk holds decent agro when playing him. His damage is good, so boosting his agro draw from arts and getting the cancel boost makes him pretty good.
i haven't quite unlocked every affinity growth yet so this certainly isn't any build for the superbosses, but i found Shulk to be especially useful and almost keep up with my attackers when i gave him a Titanium Support, Thermo Support, and a Challenger Gauntlet, and the Empowered Combo, Swelling Blessing, and Analyze Weakness gems so that he just cranks out damage and takes advantage of Glimmer's Crit rate/dmg Up for it. defensively, he basically always has an art active when i only use my purge fusion if the enemy has a buff, so he constantly has 20% extra evasion and the 15% of Arts being guaranteed evasion comes in quite often with Art spam. the most important part of almost never using Fusion Arts is spamming regular Monado Purge as often as possible to charge Monado Buster (i've once used Monado Buster 5 times under one Awakening buff during story content). in this playstyle, Armor Veil just makes up for the minimal Agility stat bonus from gear, and like Monado Purge, i get to spam it more often and mitigate more damage with it. even at level 57 against the lv60 superboss, Shulk stayed alive and maintained aggro nearly the entire 15 minutes of my attempt (before quitting bc i wasn't equipped to fight it) EDIT: also i have Matthew set to grant AOE Power Charge, so huge spikes in damage like Awakening+Power Charge+Crit Rate Up+Crit Damage Up+Launch Monado Buster can very easily overcome Rex AI's aggro gain, and i've found pairing Shulk with anyone but Rex makes it easier to maintain aggro since Specials seem to count for aggro
The fact that he gets ANOTHER "200% damage on enemy" skill in Future Redeemed and NOT his "Awakening on 20% damage taken" like the Hero version in the main game, is just an insult xD
Really enjoying these videos. How great is it that they made my boy Rex such a giga chad. It’s crazy when I played XC2 I had no kids and now during future redeemed I have as many kids as Rex 😂😂😂
Purge+Stream Edge is a great combo in multi enemy fights because it turns break into an AOE Armor veil by itself is a field, with slit edge it become an AOE party buff And since it's so hard to keep aggro off Rex i feel like its better to run Shulk as support more like how he was in 1, giving him a friendship/fraternal badge so he can spam armor and break faster
I think I really like his unity skill with Matthew. In addition to being able to use unity combo on trash early, it means he can capitalize on awakened state early in longer battles and get that initial aggro.
With Xenoblade 1 being my favourite game, there was no way I wasn't gonna main Shulk, and I had a ton of fun doing so throughout Future Redeemed, thanks to its satisfying combat system. I just wish the devs didn't do him dirty with the post-game content. considering... y'know... he IS the face of the franchise, and one of the better-written protagonists. You'd think they'd put more effort into selling the importance of his role in the story, through gameplay at least.
I wish they replaced one of skulk's spike evade skills with a skill that reduced enemy debuff resistance, it would make monado rage useful against the strong post game enemies and synergises well with the other debuffs he has access to.
Thanks for the guide Enel! Yeah, I'm running a pretty similar build with Shulk right now. Early on, I tried builds to make him do as much damage as possible, but it became pretty clear that it wasn't worth it. He does kinda feel like a worse version of Dunban in that sense, especially since you still can't get agility to be as high as past games, but he can still provide good support in combat. If he ever comes back in a future game, he'll hopefully be a bit better. I want to see both Rex and Shulk thrive as overpowered characters together someday, so we'll see!
I only played Rex, Matthew, and A during the main story playthrough. Though when it came time to fight the end game super bosses I found Shulk to be a real OP evasion tank when playing him. If you slam his arts as soon as they are recharged you can maintain aggro pretty well since AI Rex won’t be sitting there slamming Double Spinning Edge every second like a human player. He rarely ever gets hit even to the level 100 Super Bosses and only gets in real trouble if everyone else somehow dies lol
I have a heroic chain bonus on Shulk that multiplies the damage ratio of the chain attack by 1.5 every round he is used and have gotten a lot of use out of him since.
So I like pairing shulk with Mathew. You can surprise attack a super boss to guarantee break. Then get a free cheeky burst to steal super boss mats while I am gearing up. It also bursts all enemies near the initial target allowing you to nuke packs of mobs.
monado armor normal cast is a field, when fusioned with slit edge causes it to be a aoe cast that doesnt set a field. its a key distinction that i got used to when looking at how the wording with the fusion was when i found out that the fusions provide different effects. now which is better for field vs cast is, i dont know, i really do wish they would tell us how potent effects are instead of waiting for datamines
Well, one thing in favor of the field effect is a single character could eat up the entire pool themselves instead of having it be spread out over the party. So it really depends on whether you are guarding against single target damage or AoE damage.
i must say i realy liked the fusion that gave the whole party a barrier because i used it to make sure that the healers did not get 1 shot by the aoe of superbosses it was realy helpfull at hardmode
Main way I've seen success is by playing rex or matthew near shulk or vice versa because alot of late game enemies have aoe attacks so you can force alot of his skills to proc. With the increase auto attack gem you can increase your chances of his auto dodge skill to proc, I also use accessories that increase aggro when he evades which makes it easier for him to steal aggro and since he keeps getting aggro taken allowing him to get his talent art faster. Another thing that helps is having him also placed next to nikol for his damage reduction also helps with this playstyle along with having A use her vision to immediately proc some of shulk's skills as well.
Shulk in base game would probably be high a, low s in terms of tier, but since NO ONE CAN STOP THE AGGRO REX GETS he's rendered kinda useless, unless he somehow lands target lock
Yes, the character I changed to when fighting the level 80 and level 90 super bosses because the stupid amount of time your put to sleep for the former and the BS mechanic for the latter. I so far beat the former and might have a strategy for the latter if not for the regenerate buff they can apply themselves.
Edge Armor makes Monado Armor go from XB3 AOE which is a field around the user to it’s XB1 rendition. To where it’s a straight buff that just applies as well as a slight boost to the effects of Monado Armor. It feels broken because the Monado Arts in 1 where broken.
We need a guide to make these new Heroes you get from the Time Attack mission in the normal game good. I've used the Blue bearded man and he's gotten almost 2 million damage in a chain Attack while having a better Chain Order effect than Taion. Idk about the red blonde one but he's probably good too
You didn mention Armor Rush, I think his best fusion skill. It's aoe power charge, it can double up with Matthew, or free it up as it kinda gimps Matthew's other fusion arts despite being great.
His unity skill with Matthew lets you capitalize on awakening more easily. And I'm not sure how but he hasn't struggled with aggro despite the lack of aggro skills, I'm assuming the spike damage contributes.
@Dharengo Shulk does have a version of Lone Exile's Goading Attack skill which increases aggro generated from damage (the main way to generate aggro), and his damage boost when enemies target him which does absolutely nothing if Shulk doesn't have aggro. So while he has skills to generate more aggro, he is unfortunately a defender in Xenoblade 3, which means he's not actually that great at doing his job.
@Ludwig Koopa unfortunately due to the way aggro is generated, damage quickly eclipses any other aggro draw method. It's been like this across the entire series, but Xenoblade 3 has the worst of it in my opinion because the majority of defenders can't even do their job due to lacking damage. Nikol has no damage skills at all so his ability to keep aggro is extremely poor. He is at the very least capable of holding aggro in multi enemy fights, but that's because I usually have my attackers focusing on one enemy at a time.
Hey enel, do you have any suggestions on how to make the "thing" you get postgame more useful? Honestly, they feel more like a hindrance, especially during chain attacks
Just give that person a useful chain attack item like 100 damage ratio + _____ up on all allies Also treat said person like all your other characters with the same role so that that person is useful
@@moomanchu608 Yeah, but the chain attack becomes significantly more RNG, as it can be harder to get the pairings you want. And, they usually end up wandering off away from the rest of my party and getting themself killed, wasting my healers’ time… honestly, I regret proceeding with my postgame file
@@moomanchu608 that's exactly the chain order they have, and honestly i dont think i should invest in their damage since they aren't playable, which is really really stupid. They are so squishy and i got mad and gave them the memory locket so they could at least help someone useful
Nerfing Rex isn’t really a good thing to happen, so they should just patch in Shulk being as OP. Able to keep Target Lock on and Evade like 90% of the time in a battle
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Him being officially named "godcleaver shulk" is the most badass thing ive ever heard
It amuses me that one of his skills is called "mechanical rhythm". One of my favorite songs from the first game
I feel like monolith did that one on purpose…
@@TrinityCore60 No… you don’t say?
I didn't even notice that 😂
No loved that so much!
Means it’s canon that when we play Xenoblade one, we are listening to what song is in shulks head while he’s fighting.
Glad to See another Dunban guide make a return in 2023
if that's not him
That's Shulk Over there!
I’m just sad that he’s not really feeling it anymore :(
Any more feelings and he'd break his spine
How’s he gonna feel stuff he lost his arm?
I'm really feeling... old
Knowing that your child is dying over and over does that
all his move set is the Dunban set from XB1.
Hearing Shulk saying "I'm not really feeling it" made me sad as hell
Absolutely love that his Monado Buster is just blossom dance. He really looked up to dunban.
So glad to see Shulk all grown up in Future Redeemed. He may not be super broken like Rex or Matthew, but he’s still fun to play. I just love how Monado Buster is Blossom Dance but with beautiful blue petals instead. He’s really carrying on Dunban’s legacy!
I really feel like Monolith Soft needs to take a step back and really consider revamping tanks in future games, assuming they continue with combat akin to the xenoblade games. Generally speaking, tanks can do their jobs effectively for most of a playthrough l, but once attacker damage scales to obscene levels, they literally can't keep up. I really think they need to change the way aggro works on a fundamental level, or do something else to make tanks worth using. Like with Hugo in Torna, he had a way to guarantee he took all aggro for 15 seconds, and it never failed. Unfortunately Target Lock is an awful substitute since it's a debuff LOL, but if they did more stuff like that, at least tanks could be more than just an extra body that needs to be revived.
I hope this combat system doesn't stop, and keeps evolving. It's so damn good
Just like attackers do obscene damage, and healers do obscene healing, tanks SHOULD be able to gain obscene ammounts of aggro
As much as I loved playing Rex, when I tried out Shulk, I fell in love. I love offensive-ish tanks in games and Shulk is one of my favorite video game characters of all time so switching to using him the most is a no brainer
Yeah Shulk hard carried for me
Once I got to use shulk. I pretty much only used him. Given that I always like to use tanks to begin with.
I was the same. As I was going through the game I didn't really know what to give Shulk for his Chain Attack bonus skill so I gave him one where he'd revive the whole squad during chain attack. I thought it'd never come up but when almost everyone was dead and only him and Nikol were alive, I used the final remaining members for a chain attack to attempt and maybe revive my healers giving me a chance. It worked somehow with only the 2 of them and Shulk saved the whole team just by staying alive long enough to get a chain attack going and save my team. That was really funny. And after that I gained a new respect for my tanks and decided to play him more.
I'm really feeling it with this guide, however, poor Shulk just really isn't feeling it anymore with where his life has gone
He isn't feeling full of beans
Midlife crisis
Beanless mentality
Bro had God as his final boss twice, he can't catch a break
Unfortunately Shulk could never be as good of a Tank as Dunban because he refuses to get naked.
That's definitely more rex's style
@@samreddig8819 Hardly. Have you seen how many belts he wears? That seems very complicated to get out of. Probably why he needs three wives.
Unfortunately Shulk could never be as good of a Tank as Dunban because he refuses to get naked.
@@mrbubbles6468 so the foreplay lasts a bit. Three people will tear your clothes off real quick.
@@jestin8177 no way moebius J
"Stop there! I'll be your opponent!"
"Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!"
"Stop there! I'll be your opponent!"
"Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!"
"Stop there! I'll be your opponent!"
"Oh no! I lost the enemy's attention!"
Me with the first boss of chapter 4
I invested everything into Shulk. Definitely my favorite character ever.
I actually played as Shulk quite a bit. Playing as a Tank is the best way to ensure they are actually effective, but beyond that, I just liked doing Blossom Buster.
Off topic: Shulk's art lines are so god damn cool. The Monado Rage art call out is my favorite (he sounds like he's out for blood and I love it) and the Monado Cyclone/Soaring Tempest animation during unity combos looks amazing
From a gameplay perspective, it kinda sucks that Shulk took after Dunban instead of remaining the lite healer/really good support character that he was in 1, especially given how good healers are in 3.
Hope the next Xeno game reworks aggro to make Tanks be able to maintain it better, as only chars who hit like hard like Reyn or Dunban seem to hold it, and to make debuffs a useful tool instead of having debuff resistance cripple them as an option.
He wasn't ever a healer, he was always a damage man.
@@TimothyGodhe was a great support character, just like a healer. That's what the OG commenter meant.
@@lemmyxproeven then he dealt huge damage, and was huge support. I'd say healing is his least useful part. Although you don't really need a lot of healing in xc1
@@TimothyGod well, yeah. He was much more of a support character than a healer, and that was likely his greater aspect.
They downgraded Shulk in FR to the point where he is no longer himself in combat
at first I like how he took inspiration from dunban but the fact MS use that as cheap excuse to copy paste all his arts "animation" from dunban and rename them shulk arts was absolutely lazy and awful
The difference between Monado Armor and the fused Edge Armor is that baseline Monado Armor is an armor veil field, while Edge Armor just straight up applies the armor veil buff in an area.
Does the fiel one regenerate your overheal shield from the buff though? Is it better than a single application with the fusion?
@@stavros3676 I'll admit I haven't used the various armor veil fields enough to know if they stack or not. Would be nice, though!
Tbf Shulk having a hard time holding aggro fits well since he's used to being the defacto rogue/dps and can't blame him since Rex does infinite dps
Double Spinning Edge!
Double Spinning Edge!
Double Spinning Edge!
Double Spinning Edge!
Double-
@@lukedelameter7961 Double spinn- *dead*
@@lukedelameter7961 Just gonna lie down for a sec...
I like that shulk has skills that work in a way that regardless of what he’s doing in battle he’s inflicting more damage to enemies
I wasn’t impressed by Shulk…until I fought against him and Rex in the challenge battle. He was actually really hard. Now if tanks could actually operate like that in the game, then I’d be excited about tank classes
Think what would greatly improve tanks abilities to gain aggro is by making the taunts they have force the enemy to target the taunt user (you know like how enemy tanks act).
@@N120Xeno I mean monado rage kinda does this
@@TimothyGod yeah “kinda”. Half the time it doesn’t even work from what I’ve experienced.
@@N120Xeno yea, I found "kinda" to be the best of the worst. I wish it was guaranteed even for like 75% of the arts recharge time. That way it can still go wrong with losing aggro, but makes the moves work like they should
@@N120Xeno I saw another possible fix as well. But tanks should gain aggro for everything. Using arts should yield more aggro than other classes, and aggro moved should practically give you all the aggro. And I think the skills they learn should just straight up give them more damage. Not to outclass attackers, but enough to matter
I think the biggest problem with Shulk in fr is the fact that they tried to create a Xenoblade 1 style dodge tank (the Dunban inspirations are not even subtle), in a game where we have Xenoblade 2 Rex on crack. Good guide though.
I think Monado Armor+Heavy Rush is the best fusion art for Shulk. Besides the armour veil, it makes Monado Armour give power charge which really helps with Shulk's damage output and helps keep aggro.
I was surprised he did not mention this combo in the video, it's so good
I'm glad someone mentioned it. The only reason why the Monado Armor+Slit Edge for Edge Armor gives off AOE/Armor Veil despite the skill doing so already for party is that if you ask me it's meant more as an early game fusion art, (going in part by the low field range by itself at the start) but once you get to the final upgrade for Armor Veil then it becomes redundant, and you're better off pairing it with Heavy Rush.
I think the reason he didn’t mention it is because you can fuse Matthew’s Energy Boost with Revolt Uppercut and he can then give Power Charge to the entire party.
I actually started off with armor+rush for the power charge, but... well... the AI isn't terribly good about staying in fields that's beneficial to them or even staying out of fields that are literally burning them alive. So I ended switching for the buff that can stick to the teammates regardless of where they wander off to (though I might switch back for the power charge if I'm ever in a fight where I'm not as concerned about everyone dropping like flies)
@@cheyenneoliver5184 But it doesn't set a field with the fusion version...
Monado Armor at base grants armor veil to Shulk and creates an incredibly short duration field effect that gives everyone inside an armor veil effect while the field effect persists.
Pairing Armor with Slit Edge changes the effect to simply grant armor veil to all nearby allies and removes the field effect entirely as it's obsolete. I'd say that if you've got Matthew set up to be giving power charge to the team, this pairing is easily the best.
Shulk wanted to be like dunban so bad but forgot to learn how to do peerless and also strip down to dodge more as well as do more damage. FD was a good attempt at making tanks better but the nodes are not strong enough. If they added an aggro stat and also buffed aggro gems and accessories tanks would be fixed for the most part with relatively little effort. Lyn in X and Hugo in Torna the best tanks in the series still.
Kinda, a tank solo of challenge mode gets tanks with like 90k HP and stacking abilities like Auto attack heal to make you indestructible.
They probably shouldve nerfed attackers and gave the tanks the ability to get like 30k or more HP and made debuffs way easier
I feel like tanks were really powerful in xb1 no? Iirc the best team used both dunban and reyn alongside shulk
I played with Shulk from beginning to end and invested all on him early on, and I had a blast.
What I did was pair him with Matthew for that instant Awakened status, using the Fusion of Monado Shield + Heavy Rush to get Power Charged Monado Busters or unfused Monado Purges. I found Monado Purge much better used alone than fused.
By doing that, I never lost aggro and did pretty considerable damage.
Exactly what I did, then I had Rex carry with his chain attack damage lol
It’s also worth mentioning that the Monado Armor/Slit Edge fusion art gives a proper Armor Veil buff to the entire party instead of a field effect, which I *think* results in a higher total damage absorption
It also means you won’t be using up one of those 3 limited field effect slots on the field, assuming that still exists which I think it does
Shulk crawled so Rex could run in the Olympics
Shulk truly is best boy
Postgame Spoilers
When you get Shulk as a hero in the base game, his evasion spike is replaced with a skill that gives him awakening like Cammuravi. Considering he seems to want to be awakened for heavy rush and monado buster I wish this was in FR. Shulk can only consitently keep aggro if you can launch the enemy, then use his unity combo if it’s up, and even then that’s only for 20 seconds.
Even without that, it's so much easier to maintain awakening in the base game because we have things like Resonant Flag and Glittering Melody to share the buff and pause of respectively. Lategame enemies in Future Redeemed make it hard to even get awakening with how high their break resistance gets.
9:46 It's because 1 "AOE" is describing the Armor Veil effect, and the other the Bleed effect.
No it’s because normal Monado Armor is a set field art not a buff art
A dedicated protector who doesn't win on his own is exactly what the Architect would have wanted to be.
As much as I like the idea of Shulk taking after Dunban and being an evasion tank, it really doesn't make sense why he's not an attacker or even support character. He was really good at both of those in 1, and it feels like he's just turned into Dunban. Not necessarily bad, Dunban is really cool, but I feel like sticking with what made Shulk himself would've been best
Something I think they could've done with debuff resistance is split it up based on different debuffs like they did in Xenoblade 1, instead of just splitting it between debuffs from physical and ether attacks.
The party for this dlc was definitely more damage based than anything else, it makes for some very funny numbers during chain attacks and such but I feel like there isn’t a balance, in base xc3 you could play any class and be effective no matter who you’re controlling but in FR you only want to use the attackers since they’re the most optimal and useful in the players hands. Despite this I used shulk my whole play through but he definitely falls off post game😭 great guide as usual enel
Shulk may no longer feel it, but I do since he introduced me into the franchise via Smash Bros for 3DS. IMO the best item he could have had is the Legendary Biter so even Rex can't fight him in terms of bein an aggro magnet.
I find Shulk holds decent agro when playing him. His damage is good, so boosting his agro draw from arts and getting the cancel boost makes him pretty good.
i haven't quite unlocked every affinity growth yet so this certainly isn't any build for the superbosses, but i found Shulk to be especially useful and almost keep up with my attackers when i gave him a Titanium Support, Thermo Support, and a Challenger Gauntlet, and the Empowered Combo, Swelling Blessing, and Analyze Weakness gems so that he just cranks out damage and takes advantage of Glimmer's Crit rate/dmg Up for it. defensively, he basically always has an art active when i only use my purge fusion if the enemy has a buff, so he constantly has 20% extra evasion and the 15% of Arts being guaranteed evasion comes in quite often with Art spam. the most important part of almost never using Fusion Arts is spamming regular Monado Purge as often as possible to charge Monado Buster (i've once used Monado Buster 5 times under one Awakening buff during story content). in this playstyle, Armor Veil just makes up for the minimal Agility stat bonus from gear, and like Monado Purge, i get to spam it more often and mitigate more damage with it. even at level 57 against the lv60 superboss, Shulk stayed alive and maintained aggro nearly the entire 15 minutes of my attempt (before quitting bc i wasn't equipped to fight it)
EDIT: also i have Matthew set to grant AOE Power Charge, so huge spikes in damage like Awakening+Power Charge+Crit Rate Up+Crit Damage Up+Launch Monado Buster can very easily overcome Rex AI's aggro gain, and i've found pairing Shulk with anyone but Rex makes it easier to maintain aggro since Specials seem to count for aggro
The fact that he gets ANOTHER "200% damage on enemy" skill in Future Redeemed and NOT his "Awakening on 20% damage taken" like the Hero version in the main game, is just an insult xD
I have been waiting on this guide. Shulk time!
Really enjoying these videos. How great is it that they made my boy Rex such a giga chad. It’s crazy when I played XC2 I had no kids and now during future redeemed I have as many kids as Rex 😂😂😂
And just as many wives too, yeah? Lmao
Yeah Shulk is awesome. Easily best protagonist in the series
But what about the amount of wives
@@rhettmitchell just the one for me mate, but I’m no Rex.
BROOOO THE FACT HE DIDN'T PUT "MAKE BROKEN" LIKE FOR THE OTHER TWO IN THE TITLE IS TRAGIC POOR SHULK
Monado Armor puts down an Armor Veil field, but when fused with Slit Edge it gives everyone the buff version instead of a field.
His ability to purge buffs saved my ass against the lvl 90 superboss. I don't think I could beat it on hard without it
Purge+Stream Edge is a great combo in multi enemy fights because it turns break into an AOE
Armor veil by itself is a field, with slit edge it become an AOE party buff
And since it's so hard to keep aggro off Rex i feel like its better to run Shulk as support more like how he was in 1, giving him a friendship/fraternal badge so he can spam armor and break faster
Thanks Enel for another great guide.
I think I really like his unity skill with Matthew. In addition to being able to use unity combo on trash early, it means he can capitalize on awakened state early in longer battles and get that initial aggro.
With Xenoblade 1 being my favourite game, there was no way I wasn't gonna main Shulk, and I had a ton of fun doing so throughout Future Redeemed, thanks to its satisfying combat system. I just wish the devs didn't do him dirty with the post-game content. considering... y'know... he IS the face of the franchise, and one of the better-written protagonists. You'd think they'd put more effort into selling the importance of his role in the story, through gameplay at least.
Glad to have a guide for shulk !
I wish they replaced one of skulk's spike evade skills with a skill that reduced enemy debuff resistance, it would make monado rage useful against the strong post game enemies and synergises well with the other debuffs he has access to.
Thank you for creating all these awesome guides. They have helped me out so much.
Fusion arts with Monado Armor transform the field effect into a buff. Edge Armor is an AOE buff, while the other two fusions just buff Shulk.
ah that makes sense
Thanks for the guide Enel! Yeah, I'm running a pretty similar build with Shulk right now. Early on, I tried builds to make him do as much damage as possible, but it became pretty clear that it wasn't worth it. He does kinda feel like a worse version of Dunban in that sense, especially since you still can't get agility to be as high as past games, but he can still provide good support in combat. If he ever comes back in a future game, he'll hopefully be a bit better. I want to see both Rex and Shulk thrive as overpowered characters together someday, so we'll see!
I really loved playing as Shulk because I love evasion tanks, but I have a 15 TP brain best suited for attackers.
Shulk: I’m not really feeling it.
Me: Poor Shulk…
I only played Rex, Matthew, and A during the main story playthrough.
Though when it came time to fight the end game super bosses I found Shulk to be a real OP evasion tank when playing him. If you slam his arts as soon as they are recharged you can maintain aggro pretty well since AI Rex won’t be sitting there slamming Double Spinning Edge every second like a human player. He rarely ever gets hit even to the level 100 Super Bosses and only gets in real trouble if everyone else somehow dies lol
The main problem with both Defenders in Future Redeemed is that there's a certain one-eyed Spinjitzu master who draws aggro like nobody's business.
Thanks for creating these guides! I can't wait for the other ones.
I have a heroic chain bonus on Shulk that multiplies the damage ratio of the chain attack by 1.5 every round he is used and have gotten a lot of use out of him since.
For Nikol, I'm equally as interested in a player oriented guide as an "AI Nikol" guide
So I like pairing shulk with Mathew. You can surprise attack a super boss to guarantee break. Then get a free cheeky burst to steal super boss mats while I am gearing up. It also bursts all enemies near the initial target allowing you to nuke packs of mobs.
Getting awakening early also helps with initial aggro.
it wouldve been nice if he had an easier way to get awakening to make use of the art effects
Shulk/Matthew unity combo has your back.
I don't care if he's not the best this time around, he is still my favorite
I have Armor fused with Heavy Rush since it gives Shulk Power Charge which is very good for obvious reasons
I'd love to see your take on A. She's really interesting.
monado armor normal cast is a field, when fusioned with slit edge causes it to be a aoe cast that doesnt set a field. its a key distinction that i got used to when looking at how the wording with the fusion was when i found out that the fusions provide different effects. now which is better for field vs cast is, i dont know, i really do wish they would tell us how potent effects are instead of waiting for datamines
Well, one thing in favor of the field effect is a single character could eat up the entire pool themselves instead of having it be spread out over the party. So it really depends on whether you are guarding against single target damage or AoE damage.
For farming, launch with rex on art opening, and then have Matthew/Shulk burst the items.
Thanks for the guide!
Just wanted ro say that shulk can also give himself power charge through monado armor, dont remember the other art tho. That could useful.
i must say i realy liked the fusion that gave the whole party a barrier because i used it to make sure that the healers did not get 1 shot by the aoe of superbosses it was realy helpfull at hardmode
This is the only character I maxed out so far hahaha long live the Monado boy.
‘You are probably aware of who Shulk is’
The guy in Smash Bros right!
How I discover Xenoblade
I personally like running monado armor with heavy rush for power charge, and rage with slit edge for AOE target lock
The fusion effect of Shulk says AOE because it is an AOE buff instead of the monado armor field effect
Monolithsoft really needs help in the balancing department I think lol all 4 games have some glaring issues when it comes to combat
Now it's Shulk Time.
Main way I've seen success is by playing rex or matthew near shulk or vice versa because alot of late game enemies have aoe attacks so you can force alot of his skills to proc. With the increase auto attack gem you can increase your chances of his auto dodge skill to proc, I also use accessories that increase aggro when he evades which makes it easier for him to steal aggro and since he keeps getting aggro taken allowing him to get his talent art faster. Another thing that helps is having him also placed next to nikol for his damage reduction also helps with this playstyle along with having A use her vision to immediately proc some of shulk's skills as well.
Oh, I didn't consider that Vision makes evasion triggers happen for 15 seconds straight. That's a long time.
Shulk in base game would probably be high a, low s in terms of tier, but since NO ONE CAN STOP THE AGGRO REX GETS he's rendered kinda useless, unless he somehow lands target lock
What I liked about Shulk was that you are able to loop all 6 of his skills over and over and it kinda felt fun to just cancel into each other
Yes, the character I changed to when fighting the level 80 and level 90 super bosses because the stupid amount of time your put to sleep for the former and the BS mechanic for the latter. I so far beat the former and might have a strategy for the latter if not for the regenerate buff they can apply themselves.
Edge Armor makes Monado Armor go from XB3 AOE which is a field around the user to it’s XB1 rendition. To where it’s a straight buff that just applies as well as a slight boost to the effects of Monado Armor. It feels broken because the Monado Arts in 1 where broken.
You know, I get having a strong mentorship and all that, but it was a bit extreme of Shulk to maim his own hand, just to be more Dunban-like.
My entire playthrough I always thought they did Shulk the dirtiest with in my opinion, the worst skills of the party.
i recently finished future redeemed, shulk is my party leader, i made him focus on chain attack generation. and nikol a reviver.
lol nice save at 18:57
I tried so hard to play as shulk all of FR, but when I saw A was doing more damage easily he just became a break bot alongside matthew.
We need a guide to make these new Heroes you get from the Time Attack mission in the normal game good. I've used the Blue bearded man and he's gotten almost 2 million damage in a chain Attack while having a better Chain Order effect than Taion. Idk about the red blonde one but he's probably good too
I find it funny that Aggro was the bane of Shulk's existence in XBC1 because he couldn't take many hits but now in XBC3, my dood wants all the smoke.
You didn mention Armor Rush, I think his best fusion skill. It's aoe power charge, it can double up with Matthew, or free it up as it kinda gimps Matthew's other fusion arts despite being great.
It’s only power charge to himself. Matthew’s Energy Revolt, however, is an AOE power charge.
Ive never had Armor veil apply to other party members with base Monado Armor, so Ive only treated base Armor as a single target buff.
IM REALLY FEELING IT!
I will still forever be mad that you can't get these classes in base game.
The evasion tank with an Awakening gimmick with no evasion arts, no aggro skills, and no way to get Awakening other than a universal mechanic
His unity skill with Matthew lets you capitalize on awakening more easily. And I'm not sure how but he hasn't struggled with aggro despite the lack of aggro skills, I'm assuming the spike damage contributes.
Being a defender really hurts in Xenoblade 3 unfortunately. At least Shulk has more effects to help generate aggro than Nikol, poor kid.
Hm? But Shulk doesn't even have aggro generating effects when Nikol has 2 arts and a skill.
Nikol does a way better job at tanking than Shulk. Shulk never had aggro for me. Its either Nikol, or a damage dealer.
@@ludwig-alice For me Shulk keeps getting aggro from Nikol.
@Dharengo Shulk does have a version of Lone Exile's Goading Attack skill which increases aggro generated from damage (the main way to generate aggro), and his damage boost when enemies target him which does absolutely nothing if Shulk doesn't have aggro. So while he has skills to generate more aggro, he is unfortunately a defender in Xenoblade 3, which means he's not actually that great at doing his job.
@Ludwig Koopa unfortunately due to the way aggro is generated, damage quickly eclipses any other aggro draw method. It's been like this across the entire series, but Xenoblade 3 has the worst of it in my opinion because the majority of defenders can't even do their job due to lacking damage. Nikol has no damage skills at all so his ability to keep aggro is extremely poor. He is at the very least capable of holding aggro in multi enemy fights, but that's because I usually have my attackers focusing on one enemy at a time.
I already 100 percented the game but I like watching these
Stream Edge hits twice, do both hits have a chance to inflict Break?
Babe wake up new shulk content just dropped.
I'm pretty sure the aoe listed twice was because monado armor was a field effect, and you did an aoe attack
No matter what you do, Rex is still dying 😂
He's too good...
Can you blame the enemy? How COULD you stay mad at THE monado boy? The whole "Dunban attire" is so wholesome too...
Hey enel, do you have any suggestions on how to make the "thing" you get postgame more useful? Honestly, they feel more like a hindrance, especially during chain attacks
Just give that person a useful chain attack item like 100 damage ratio + _____ up on all allies
Also treat said person like all your other characters with the same role so that that person is useful
@@moomanchu608 Yeah, but the chain attack becomes significantly more RNG, as it can be harder to get the pairings you want. And, they usually end up wandering off away from the rest of my party and getting themself killed, wasting my healers’ time… honestly, I regret proceeding with my postgame file
@@moomanchu608 that's exactly the chain order they have, and honestly i dont think i should invest in their damage since they aren't playable, which is really really stupid. They are so squishy and i got mad and gave them the memory locket so they could at least help someone useful
@@patroka you could always just... chain attack after they die
@@edgarjuarez2241 not a great idea on superbosses. You want to be able to blow the, up in 1 chain attack on normal or 2 on hard
Nerfing Rex isn’t really a good thing to happen, so they should just patch in Shulk being as OP. Able to keep Target Lock on and Evade like 90% of the time in a battle