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Chain Arts into Break, Topple and Daze

Designer · 30 min · No code

Result: three Arts that work as a combo. The first Breaks the enemy, the second Topples a Broken enemy, the third Dazes a Toppled one, and the third also deals bonus damage only against a Toppled target.

Before you start

How the chain works

Each reaction is a gameplay effect in Battle/Reactions. An Art inflicts one by listing it in its Effects.

Reaction effect Grants gameplay tag Lands only if the target has
GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Break Status.XenoCore.Reaction.Break nothing: always lands
GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Topple Status.XenoCore.Reaction.Topple Status.XenoCore.Reaction.Break
GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Daze Status.XenoCore.Reaction.Daze Status.XenoCore.Reaction.Topple

The effects enforce the order, not the Arts. A Topple entry on an Art used against an enemy that is not Broken is simply refused: no error, no Topple. That is how the chain is meant to work, so you never need to check the order yourself.

Each reaction lasts its own time, authored on the effect (Break lasts 10 seconds, Topple 3.5, Daze 2). While Toppled or Dazed, a target is knocked down, cannot auto-attack or use Arts, and takes bigger critical hits (×1.5 instead of ×1.25).

Steps

1. The Break Art

  1. Create a blank Art: in MyGame/Arts, right-click › Data › Data Asset › XenoCoreArtDefinition, named DA_Sunder. Fill in its name, Power, Cooldown Duration, its own Cooldown Tag, Montage and Palette Glyph as in Your first art. Do not duplicate DA_XenoCore_AirSlash or another finished Art: the copy brings its effects along.
  2. Under Art, set Category to Break, so the Arts menu colours it as a Break Art.
  3. Under Art › Effects, click + on Effects and set the new entry: Effect GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Break, Chance 1.0, Condition Always, Recipient Each target. Leave Duration and Magnitude at 0: reactions carry their own timing and never read them.

2. The Topple Art

  1. Create another blank Art, DA_Upend, the same way, with its own name and Cooldown Tag.
  2. Category: Topple.
  3. Add one effect: GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Topple, set as for Sunder.

3. The Daze Art with a bonus

  1. Create a third blank Art, DA_Stun, own name and tag, Category Daze, effect GE_XenoCore_Reaction_Daze.
  2. For bonus damage against a Toppled target, you need an entry whose condition is Target is Toppled. Add a second Effects entry:
    • Effect: Battle/Status/GE_XenoCore_Status_StrengthDown
    • Duration: 10
    • Condition: Target is Toppled

The Daze lands, and a Toppled target is also weakened for ten seconds.

Conditions see the target before the hit

Every condition is judged on the target as it was before this Art landed. So an Art that both Breaks and has a Target is Broken entry only triggers that entry on an enemy that was already Broken; it cannot chain off its own Break in one press.

The conditions you can use:

Condition True when
Always Always
In the art's position Any of the Art's Positional Bonuses is met
From the front, From the side, From behind The user stands there relative to the target
Target is Broken, Toppled, Dazed The target has that reaction

4. Put them on one character

  1. Open the character's pawn Blueprint (for Kael, Characters/VRoid/Kael/B_XenoCore_Party_VRoid_L), click Class Defaults, and note the Data Table in XenoCore › Arts › Art Learn Table. This is the character's learnset.
  2. Open that Data Table and click Add three times. On each row set Art to one of DA_Sunder, DA_Upend, DA_Stun, Unlock Level 1, and Default Slot a slot number no other row in the table uses (-1 leaves the Art unslotted, for the player to place from the Arts menu).
  3. Save the table.

Slots fill from the centre out, so slots 0 and 1 sit either side of the Talent Art. More in Set palette slots and unlocks.

Chain across the party

A reaction is on the target, not the attacker. So one party member can Break and another Topple: the chain works across characters with no extra setup. Give the Break Art to one member and the Topple Art to another.

AI-controlled companions read the chain from the same effects. Because Upend's Topple effect needs a Broken target, a companion holds Upend until the enemy is Broken (AI Wait For Reaction, on by default) and then favours it (AI Chain Bonus). See Tune companion AI.

Enemies use exactly the same effects: the sample minion's Arts are Art definitions too - DA_XenoCore_Minion_Rend Breaks and DA_XenoCore_Minion_Sweep Topples. See Give an enemy Arts and AI.

Test it

  1. Press Play in Maps/L_XenoCore_Gym with the three Arts on the leader's palette.
  2. Use Upend (Topple) on a fresh minion. Nothing happens: it is not Broken.
  3. Use Sunder. "Break" pops over the minion.
  4. Within ten seconds, use Upend. The minion falls: "Topple".
  5. While it is down, use Stun. "Daze", and the Strength Down icon if it applies.

If it doesn't work

The new Arts are not on the palette

Default Slot is read only when a character's palette is first built, so a loaded save keeps its old palette. Slot the Arts from the Arts menu, or test from a fresh start.

Fails silently: Topple never happens

The Topple Art is used after Break has worn off (10 seconds), or on an enemy never Broken. The effect refuses itself without a message. Shorten the gap, or lengthen Break's duration on a copy of the reaction effect.

The reaction pops up but the enemy doesn't fall

The target has no ability that plays the knockdown when the tag arrives. It still cannot act, so it just stands there. Party members have them (Battle/GA_XenoCore_Player_Topple, _Daze) and so does the minion (Characters/Enemies/Minion/GA_XenoCore_Minion_Topple, _Daze, granted by AbilitySet_XenoCore_Minion_Melee). A new enemy with its own skeleton needs its own copies with its own montages; see Add an enemy.

The popup never appears

The effect is a status or reaction you made yourself, without a display name. Reactions are named from their class; statuses need a Display Name (Make a status effect).

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