Xenoblade Chronicles Guide- Walkthrough Part 105: The South Side Monsters

There are a bunch of new monsters South of Colony 6, and most of them are aggressive.  While individually they’re not threatening, the number of Hox around and the aggressive named Hox make dealing with them en masse both likely and pretty hazardous.  Keep your eyes up when you wander around here- Jutard likes to hang out near the Water Ether deposit, which is the only thing really giving you a good reason to head uphill towards the Colony, since there’s no way you can get that Heart-to-Heart yet.

Area: Colony 6 South
Monster Levels: 19-24 and 26

Nebula- Finally you get to see a new Nebula- the Grom Nebula.  Other than its color, though, it doesn’t really vary from the previous Nebulae you saw around the Bionis’ Leg.  You get its attention by hitting it or using Ether arts, of course.

Types: Grom Nebula

Antol- There are two new Antol here, one that boosts its own power with Awakening and attacks in packs, and one that attacks on sight but doesn’t do anything special.  The real difference between these and the Shattered Path Antol is that you no longer have to worry about accidentally running off a cliff.

Types: Flamme Antol, Lubum Antol

Hox- This is where the majority of the creatures in this area fall- just a bunch of giant ground-squirrels hungry for your meat for some unfathomable reason.  Hard Hox are here, though there’s an odd lack of Soft Hox.  Doom Hox are another sight-aggression Hox, and they like to wander around a lot.  Fortunately, they’re not individually dangerous- unfortunately, they’re not individual, as they’re usually around Morule Hox, which are normally nonaggressive but are Pack Fighters, meaning they’ll jump you if you fight another Hox anywhere near them.  Morule Hox are fairly numerous, so keep an eye on your surroundings- while they clump up with other Hox, the groups of monster squirrels in the area are a little more tightly packed than you would like.  Finally, there is Drifter Jutard, a slightly larger Hox that is sight-aggressive and named.  Drifter Jutard is accompanied by three or four higher-level Hox and is himself still higher in level.  He packs a distressingly powerful short-ranged attack that the Monado will fortunately warn you about, but more importantly, between him and the four to seven Hox that will join in any fight he leaps into, you’re going to be taking a lot of damage when you fight him.  Keeping Sharla back and out of danger is a Very Good Idea, and you should probably try to make sure she doesn’t attack too often- the last thing you need is to be stuck fighting four Hox and trying to peel a fifth and sixth off of your healer without taking too much damage from the Hox you have to try to ignore.  Expect that fight to last a while, and to have some close calls and a number of revivals before you can make it through.  Remember, kill off the smaller Hox first- they’re far easier to injure, so you can cut the incoming damage by a lot before having to deal with Jutard.

Types: Hard Hox, Doom Hox, Morule Hox, Drifter Jutard (Level 26)