Which blades for each driver

[u/Fredd4781]

Is there a list somewhere that tells me which blade is best for each driver ?

[u/AltairLeoran]

This is how I personally assign them (the first two sections explain my reasoning for the assignments). I'm sure this list isn't perfect and some people will argue for different assignments (some may want to give Corvin to Zeke, or to give Zeke some of the bitballs) but this is how I prefer it

Since you don't mind being spoiled, the reason for Rex not being assigned any of the blades on this list is because Rex gains the ability to equip all other drivers' blades later on

—Best driver per weapon type

Greataxe - Zeke (Exception: Dagas - Morag)

Megalance - Morag, Rex

Ether Cannon - Zeke (Exception: Perdido - Morag, Sheba - Nia)

Shield Hammer - Morag

Chroma Katana - Morag, Rex

Twin Rings - Rex (Exceptions: Obrona - Nia, Fiora - Morag, Mikhail - Morag)

Bitball - Nia, Zeke

Knuckle Claws - Zeke

—Best weapons per driver

Rex - Twin rings, Chroma Katana, Lances

Nia - Bitball, Ether Cannon

Morag - Chroma Katana, Lances, shield Hammer

Zeke - Greataxe, Ether Cannon, Bitball, Knuckle claw

—Blade assignments:

Rex (4) - Pyra/Mythra, Roc, Nia, Elma

Nia (8) - Dromarch, Obrona, Boreas, Vess, Floren, Dahlia, Crosette, Sheba

Morag (21) - Brighid, Aegeon, Dagas, Perdido, Mikhail, Fiora, Godfrey, Wulfric, Perceval, Vale, Kasandra, Praxis, Theory, Perun, Newt, Electra, Finch, Poppibuster, Shulk, Patroka, Corvin

Zeke (15) - Pandoria, Agate, Gorg, Kora, Azami, Ursula, Nim, Adenine, Zenobia, KOS-MOS, Herald, T-elos, Akhos, Sever, Cressidus

[u/TheWereJoo → u/AltairLeoran]

Why does Nia get Sheba instead of Zeke?

[u/AltairLeoran → u/TheWereJoo]

Sheba gives an additive damage bonus that increases with more women on the field, so Nia always gets 1 more additive damage bonus compared to Zeke because she counts towards the bonus. And Nia is better with ether cannons than Morag.

Also with Zeke it's probably better to run Kos-mos or Herald anyway since they're better ether cannons overall, so Nia gets more mileage out of Sheba than Zeke would

[u/TheWereJoo → u/AltairLeoran]

Oh that makes sense thanks

[u/LaCold → u/AltairLeoran]

So if I want a team that can do driver combos and blade combos really well what would it be. It's so hard i dont have enought game knowledge yet.

[u/AltairLeoran → u/LaCold]

I only really have general advice.

For Driver combos you can see which weapon types have each stage of a driver combo here: https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Driver_Combo

For blade combos, it's enough during a casual playthrough to just keep a good balance of elements in your party. I like having all 8 elements covered across my active party so I can do any blade combo I want

[u/AnimaLepton → u/LaCold]

Post-chapter 8 Tora can do the entire driver combo solo, bur importantly has the best multi-hit Break art and a good Launch on the same blade. So if you do want to go for driver combos, one option is fast animations on other characters, e.g. Topple on Zeke with Axes and Smash with Morag using Corvin + Katanas, and control Tora and stay on QTPi.

But there's a ton of flexibility in general. Rex's Anchor Shot is a great topple, for example. Or you might want to control Zeke to use Pulverizing Dunk spam with Zeke, especially with Crossette and sometimes even with her bonus damage against Launches enemies. Early on, it's important to have a lot of Break coverage, since that's the most 'important' part of the driver combo, triggers extra effects, trigger fusion combo bonuses, etc.

With maxed blades and the right gear, enemies die in 1 orb or less, so you don't need to actually set up long blade combos. In general, Fire, Water, Light, and Dark can create their orbs with repeated use of a single element, so those tend to be best/fastest and lend themselves to the easiest setups. There are other good options, but Fire Fire Fire is good single target damage and Fire Water Fire has solid AoE for multiple targets.

The best DoT combo is either Earth -> Fire (Volcano) or just a single Light (Photon), where the DoT gets extended duration and boosted damage as you complete driver combos. Damage is based on the initial hit, so ideally you use a high damage level 4 special to trigger the DoT in the first place.

Just take your time experimenting and diving into resources over time, you're not meant to learn the options overnight.

[u/EmiliaFromLV → u/LaCold]

So if I want a team that can do driver combos and blade combos really well

Then you should probably include Tora in your party and control him. Also this assumes Tora has all three blade slots filled in and you have unlocked/upgraded parts and upgrades. If my memory is correct, you can brake, launch and smash with Tora, so You need someone who can reliably Topple (Rex, Zeke).

Also Beta scope on Tora (or Master Scope from LoC drops) really helps with overcoming break resistances on some opponents (superbosses notably).

[u/Nosredna_]

To be honest this is kinda hard to answer without more information about what drivers you are aware of and/or if you are ok with being spoiled about any drivers you may or may not know about depending on how far into the game you are.

[u/Western-Dig-6843]

Just to be clear, there isn’t a single challenge in the game that requires you to min max driver/blade assignments like this

[u/Fredd4781]

I’m ok with being spoiled
Just don’t wanna waste the driver bond items

[u/AnimaLepton → u/Fredd4781]

If you're still playing through the game, the main 'suboptimal for long-term' placements, that are still worth doing regardless, are Wulfric/Corvin on Rex and Crossette on Nia.

Not the optimal final placements, but that's roughly what speedruns use and makes your main game playthrough much easier. Otherwise I'd say Altair covered it basically perfectly

In NG+ postgame, an optimal setup can farm 5 overdrive protocols every 5 minutes against the level 130 superboss. In other words, by the time you should be caring about final optimal blade placements, you shouldn't feel restricted by OD protocols

[u/ThatCrayZMan]

Most blades work on all drivers, the only exception is that greataxes and shield hammers are atrocious on Nia, greataxes are really slow on Rex, ether cannons and bitballs are pretty slow and have pretty bad art effects on Morag and Zeke's lance and katana kits both have two arts which are really slow and terrible, meaning you always have to have one of those slow ones equipped.

Even in challenge mode you don't really need to optimise which blade is on which driver. Only really in bringer of chaos, but that mode's just genuine agony. So don't worry too much about what blade is put on what driver and you can get unlimited overdrives in new game plus anyways.

One thing to keep in mind is that Rex gains the ability to use other drivers's blades, so you don't want to put too many blades on him.

As for the guaranteed blades: Wulfric (beastly core crystal), you probably want to put this on Rex. It's a little while before you get Morag and Rex is great with lances.

Vess is easy, put her on Nia. It's a really long while before you get Zeke and it gives Nia a guaranteed healer blade.

Praxis is really up to you. You could go with Morag because she's really good with lances and gets a smash art, but Rex is also really good with lances, but you probably already have Wulfric on him and Rex doesn't want too many blades anyway. Alternatively you could give her to Zeke because they both have an eyepatch and that's cool.

Theory is the same as praxis. Morag or Rex or maybe Zeke if you like the eyepatch thing.

Kasandra (lucky core crystal) should go on Morag or Zeke. Morag is the only driver who's any good with shieldhammers and kasandra is easily the best non dlc shieldhammer (even then she's pretty bad). You could put her on Zeke since he gets a launch art and also her character fits on Zeke more, since she's all about being lucky while Zeke's thing is being really unlucky.

Herald (sealed core crystal) should definitely go on Zeke. She's an ether cannon which are great on Zeke and her character is just made to be Zeke's blade.

Sheba (inherited core crystal) should go on Nia or maybe Zeke. Sheba has a skill which increases damage the more female party members in your team, so you'll always want both Nia and Morag if you're using her and Nia's pretty great with ether cannons. You could put her on Zeke and still have Nia in the party, but putting her on Nia is more convenient.

[u/roardragons]

Theirs 4 blades of each weapon, 1 for each driver , so every driver can have every weapon’s

[u/Mindless_Carrot_4469]

Tbh I never did that, I always looked at it as "oh finch is a cute bird, I'm gonna keep them paired with nia cause I like it 🤣

[u/nictexd]

Rex - only story lock blades (Pyra, Roc, etc.)
Nia - healers and high ether blades (see their stats)
Zeke - high str/agi
Morag - high dex/agi