How to Farm Legendary Core Crystals with Relentless Arduran (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)

Featured with permission by Torden5410

1.3.0 made a change so that core chip effects, like the item drop rate boost from Gold Core Chips, are only in effect when the blade they’re equipped on is currently being used by the driver. That means no more Agi stacking with Pentagon Chip and no more item drop rate stacking with Gold Core Chips.

However, that doesn’t mean much for most of you, because not many people were actually farming at 100% efficiency anyway.

In this post I’m going to tell you how to increase your odds as best as possible, as well as an easy Driver setup that will produce efficient Driver Combos that require absolutely zero input from the player.

Party set-up:

Any blade not specifically named is ideally a generic blade with the Treasure Sensor Battle Skill. If you don’t have that available, go for whatever blade you have that gives the best relevant stat mod to the driver (like agility for Morag).

Tora may be substituted in for Nia. Just make sure that you remove Dented Shield from Poppi QT. Poppi QTPi needs Speedy Sword and Swooshing Slash. If you’re in NG+ then just remove Poppi QT from him. Make sure you equip Poppi QTPi with a rank 5 Treasure Sensor upgrade.

Nia is a better choice because Tora has some sort of AI fault and doesn’t reliably use Big Boost or Dented Shield on blade switches. It is easier to get Treasure Sensor 5 on QTPi than it is to find the perfect generic blade with Treasure Sensor 5, but reliable Driver Combo execution is more important, imo.

Core Chips for Blades:

The only blades that actually need Gold Core Chip equipped are the ones that will be active when Morag does a Smash. This means Adenine, Morag’s Chroma Katanas, and whichever blade the player is going to idle on. Coincidentally those are also the only blades that need Treasure Sensor.

Accessories:

Aux Cores aren’t too important. Give Brighid Affinity Max Evade and Affinity Max Atk. Put Fast Blade Switch on any of Nia’s blades if they have a low cooldown (like 1 or 2).

Now just engage Relentless Arduran and perform at least one Blade Combo so that Nia and Morag will actually start proactively switching blades in order to perform Driver Combos. This is important, because if Arduran doesn’t have an orb on him, they won’t switch blades. Coincidentally, don’t try to do any further Blade Combos, or else they’ll prioritize the Blade Combo over Driver Combos. I recommend trying to do a Blade Combo ending with Water so you can seal Stench.

Brighid is important for Morag because with a Tachyon Chip she has good damage for aggro, great dodge, good block, and high enough crit for good self-sustain with Avant-Garde Medal. Make sure Morag has the Azure II: Hellfire Art equipped or else she won’t switch back to Brighid after she smashes, which will cause problems with Art cooldowns. Morag using two Chroma Katanas helps make sure that she has one off cooldown so she can switch to them and Smash every time Nia Launches.

Nia will be doing all the Driver Combo leg work. Be sure Nia has her Break Art, Topple Art, and Launch Art equipped. Her Topple is the weak link in the chain because it has both a big wind-up and follow-through, so if you want to give the player driver a Topple Art and do it yourself this is the most beneficial place to participate.

All the player has to do is run around and collect the loot. Pick your blades for support purposes if possible. A water and electric blade to seal Stench with a Blade Combo at the start of a fight is a good idea if Nia or Morag doesn’t have either. Consider making your idling blade a Bitball so you can heal the party with potions and Strong Shot if they need it.

Using this method you should still be able to make Core Crystal bank. The Treasure Sensor battle skill goes up to 100% at rank 5, so if all you were doing before was stacking Gold Core Chips, this can be at least as effective because each Driver is capable of reaching 150% item drop rate by having Treasure Sensor and a Gold Core Chip on their blade.