Xenoblade Chronicles X Multiplayer Guide - Squads, BLADE Scouting, and More

The online multiplayer experience is more than a side, recreational part of Xenoblades Chronicles X.

If you want to stay closed off from it and focus on the story, that’s totally up to you, but linking up and socializing with other XCX players offers a lot of offers, both intrinsic and extrinsic.

Xenoblade Chronicles X Multiplayer

The online features activate after you finish Chapter 3 of the main story in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Squads

Once you have access to online functionality, the first thing you can do is choose a squad whenever you start a session. Squads are essentially your own set of preferences for a given online session. There are three types of Squads you can select:

• Lifehold Squads
  Lifehold squads are ideal if you want to keep to yourself for a given online session. You’ll get all the online-based elements available to you, but you won’t have much interaction with other players and social interaction options.
• Conquest Squads
  If you wish to focus on completing squad tasks and missions with other human players, Conquest Squads is the way to go. You’ll join a lobby of 32 random players who have the same cause.
• Friend Squads
  If you have a set of friends you want to play with, this is the option for you. It will allow you to choose to join whatever squad your friends are in.

In order to change a squad, you’ll simply need to quite the game and select a different squad when you restart.

The Lobby
The lobby is where you communicate with other players. You do this via BLADE reports. These are essentially squad-wide ‘bulletins,’ where you can perform various tasks as report findings, coordinate squad tasks, or simply have your say on something you like.

You can even flag topics you create with spoiler alerts, along with various other options.

Squad Tasks
Squad tasks are essentially global objectives that need to be completed. On the bottom right of your screen, you’ll often see a running tally of global objectives. There are plenty of them, and will constantly be appearing.

If you complete these Squad Tasks, they’ll unlock co-op squad missions in the BLADE Barracks. This is where the tangible rewards come from, as they give you reward tickets that can be used for buying materials from the Network Console, as well as BLADE medals, which you need to get to participate in special squad missions.

Squad Missions
Squad Missions are unlocked as you finish Squad Tasks. You’ll need to head to the Network Console in the BLADE Barracks to find out which squad missions you’ve unlocked.

Squad missions are essentially special quests that you can take on with up to four players. They reward you with money, experience, reward tickets, and battle points, so it’s always beneficial to do so.

Squad missions mostly have you hunting specific indigens. Missions have a set time to complete, as well as other certain limits such as level requirements, participants cap, limited retries, and more.

As you complete more squad tasks and missions, your success will contribute to the Conquest Progress meter that is seen at the start of the game. This meter tracks every BLADE service in the world.

When it becomes full, a powerful boss monster called the Global Nemesis is unleashed in the world for all players to battle with. Its appendages and rewards are beyond awesome, but doing so does cost BLADE medals, so make sure you’re prepared for a fight.

The rewards from Global Nemesis tend to become greater the more times you kill it, so make sure you’re taking your opportunities.

Treasure Deals
Being a part of a squad has its gameplay advantages, but one other advantage is share loot drops with players in your lobby. When you want to share, simply select the treasure deal option when you’re looting an enemy.

You can then either send it directly to a player or put it up for a whole squad to bid on. You’ll be reward with Division points for doing this, so it’s always a good idea.

Division Support
When you’re playing in a squad, you can benefit from some powerful buffs if there are other players hanging out in the same zone. These buffs are basically division support.

The way you gain buffs from the division you belong to, you’ll also gain buffs from the divisions of the other players if they are in your vicinity, and vice versa.

Scouting BLADEs

After activating the online features post-Chapter 3, you’ll begin to notice a few new characters around the BLADE Barracks and Administrative Districts.

You’ll also occasionally find more out on the field. These are essentially other players’ avatars, and will enlist and help you on your adventure.

As you adventure with these BLADEs, a bar on their portrait gradually fills up as you gather experience. This bar, when full, allows you to become eligible for rewards in the form of division points, reward tickets, resources, and more.

These characters can be found in the game world on the field, and simply walking to them and requesting their service is how you basically scout them. However, there’s a more specific method to do it as well.

BLADE Scout Console
Although scouting BLADEs on the field is pretty fun and rewarding, sometimes you need very specific specialists to aid you. In that case, you should head to the BLADE Scout Console located in New LA’s Administrative District.

On this console, you can specify the level ranges, classes, and weapons types to find BLADEs that match your specifications.

The cost of hiring BLADEs varies according to difference in level. The bigger the (positive) difference in levels, the more it’ll cost you to hire them. The length of their service will also be available to you at the time.

Registering Your Own Character
If you want to put up your own character to serve you fellow BLADEs, you can also do so through the console. This will register your character in your current state – they’ll go out in the field with the gear, Arts, Skills, and Soul Voices you have at the time of registration.

Of course, this isn’t a benevolent task for the sake of goodwill – you’ll be rewarded with experience, collectibles, and resources for doing so. There’s absolutely no real reason not to, unless you’re a bit too possessive towards your character, in which case they can be deregistered any time.

Division Rewards
Once per day, you’ll be eligible for a special reward in the form of an item from your division.

The award depends largely on how well you pursued your division’s recommended activities. If you want to see how well you’re doing, head to the BLADE Scout Console and check out the divisogram.

That should give you a good idea.