Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Guide: How to Find and Use the Beastly Core Crystal

One of the major new features in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the inclusion of Blades, artificial life forms that bond with human Drivers and aid them in battle. Each main character has at least one set Blade obtained in the main story, and there are additional Blades players find as they explore the massive world of Alrest. Some of these are necessary to fully explore the world, while others provide a boost in combat and help expand relationships between characters. The Beastly Core Crystal does all of these, and it’s easier to find than you might think.

What Is the Beastly Core Crystal?

The Beastly Core Crystal is a type of Rare core crystal. Rare crystals yield Rare Blades, each of which possesses a unique personality, appearance, and ability, whereas common crystals give you standard, run-of-the-mill Blades.

Many Rare crystals are only found randomly, but some of them are obtained through side quests or normal story progression. The Beastly Core Crystal is an example of the latter, so you don’t have to go out of your way or trust to luck to find it. The element of chance that makes it rather difficult to acquire many Rare Blades also makes those that are easily obtainable like this one even more welcome and useful, especially early on, when you’re still building your team.

How Do I Find It?

In Chapter 3, the party meets Vandham the mercenary in the Kingdom of Uraya. As part of the plot, he takes the party on a mercenary mission, and in the process, Rex and Co. discover a dead Titan and a giant monster, the Elder Arachno. Naturally, the monster has to go.

How to Beat the Elder Arachno

The Elder Arachno is one of the more difficult bosses in the early game. The first order of business is to make sure the party is close to the Elder Arachno’s level, around level 22. If you’re having trouble leveling your party up, side quests will be the most helpful. Take on some quests that reward you with experience, sleep at an inn, allocate the bonus experience points, and you’ll be well on the way to a stronger party a heckuva lot faster than grinding through combat.

During the actual battle, Tora will be the most useful party member, so make sure to keep her alive. Arts inflicting Break are also going to be important over the course of combat. But, in general, if your party members’ levels are high enough, and you keep Tora in good shape, you’ll take down the Elder Arachno in no time.

What Do I Do With It Now?

You’ll automatically be rewarded with the Beastly Core Crystal after the fight. But, you can’t do anything with it for the remainder of the chapter. Once Chapter 4 begins, however, you can immediately unlock the crystal’s power and bond the Earth-Blade Wulfric with Rex, Nia, or Zeke, his ideal Drivers.

Here’s a rundown of what Wulfric has to offer:

Field Skills:

• Superstrength: Used to lift or break things
• Earth Mastery: An Earth Blade’s power
• Focus: Ablility to control one’s power

Battle Skills:

• Power Unleashed: When Affinity is maxed, increases damage by 60%
• Critical Strike: Increases critical damage by 10%

Blade Arts

• Critical Up: Increases critical hit rate
• Arts Plus: Increases power of next Driver Art used

Specials:

• Brutal Lance: Erratic spin attack
• Termination Blast: Fires absorbed energy in a single blast
• Hellhound: A powerful fly-and-drop attack
• Apocalypse: Jabs an enemy multiple times before firing a laser blast.

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Are you planning on making Wulfric part of your team? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out our other Xenoblade Chronicles 2 guides!