This is a guide for the Consul Crys boss fight in Chapter 7 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, taking place in the Keves Castle region.

How to Beat Consul Crys¶

Consul Crys Phase 1¶

As the whole chapter has alluded to, Noah’s old friend, Crys, is a Moebius and it seemed an inevitability that you should have to face him in battle. This is a two-phase battle, with the second changing quite substantially. For the first phase, you’ll be taking on Crys in his Consul form wielding a rather large blade.

Consul Crys has some nasty Arts available to him, and you can learn more about them below:

• Crescendo Edge: Consul Crys swings his blade at a single target, dealing moderate-major damage.

• Lightning Resonance: Consul Crys jumps into the air and slashes down in front of him, dealing moderate damage to all targets in a line AoE.

• Staccato Shock: Consul Crys unleashes a wave of energy that has a chance to inflict Evasion Down and Knockback on all targets. Once Enraged, this has a chance to Topple targets too.

• Finale: Once Enraged, Consul Crys leaps into the air and performs multiple slashes and will deal major damage should all hits connect.

Unlike most fights where there are two phases, this one against Consul Crys is two battles, which means you’ll have to fully deplete his HP and deal with the Enrage like a regular boss battle. Consul Crys may only have four Arts available to him, but all of them hit hard and Finale, if you’re not buffed and an Attacker or Healer is the target, can outright kill a character.

Consul Crys’s auto-attacks are on the slower side of things, but even the damage from those start to add up. Crescendo Edge is his most used Art and is a simple swing at a single character, this will deal moderate damage to a Tank but can deal major damage should anyone else be on the end of it.

Lightning Resonance is the Art that will most likely cause you the most hassle as it’s a powerful line AoE that deals moderate damage to your characters who, usually, find themselves bunched up. Thankfully, there’s a bit of a build-up to the attack as he jumps in the air first so if you’re quick, you can use Break or a Knockback to prevent him pulling off the Art.

Staccato Shock is an odd one, for the first of the battle it isn’t too much to worry about as it only has a chance to inflict Evasion Down and may do Knockback alongside it, a nuisance, but a minor one at that. Once he’s Enraged though, he’ll charge the Art and it will then have the chance to also inflict Topple on the entire party. This can be incredibly dangerous if you are already low on HP and your Healers happened to get Toppled so switch over to them and press the on-screen buttons to free them as quickly as possible.

There’s only one other new Art he gains once he’s Enraged, Finale, and if you’ve got a Signifier providing plenty of buffs throughout the fight, you’ll find it rare that each of the hits will land, if any at all. Should they do land though, you’ll take major damage and non-Tanks may even be killed outright.

As you can see from the above, Consul Crys isn’t too much of a threat until he becomes Enraged where Staccato Shock becomes a real threat and the risk of Finale looms. For this reason alone, you’ll want to have Burst available to you to knock him out whenever possible and make use of a Chain Attack once he’s Enraged to try and end the fight before he can cause any more damage.

Consul Crys Phase 2¶

After you defeat him, Consul Crys boards the Levnis behind him and begins the second phase of the battle, with him now at Lv 61. His auto-attacks get a massive upgrade, even if they’re still at the same speed. It’s not rare for him to deal around 700 HP a hit.

Consul Crys has a whole new host of Arts available for this second phase, and you can learn more about them below:

• Nocturne Sword: Consul Crys slashes across a single target, dealing moderate damage and inflicting Daze.

• Rhapsodic Blast: Consul Crys lets out a barrage of missiles that deals moderate damage should they all connect to targets in an AoE in front of him.

• Phantasia Rush: Consul Crys charges the cannons and unleashes a blast that deals moderate-major damage based on how many hits connect to targets in an AoE in front of him.

• Quick Tune-Up: Consul Crys charges the Levnis, granting him the Critical Rate Up and Critical Hit Plus buffs.

• Requiem Rain: Once Enraged, Consul Crys will shoot lasers in an AoE in front of him, dealing moderate-major damage based on how many hits are taken.

A cursory look at the Arts above will tell you that Consul Crys in phase two is a much different battle. While phase one had its moments, all of the Arts that Consul Crys has available to him here will deal much more damage and to make matters more complicated, all of them other than Nocturne Sword are AoE.

Speaking of Nocturne Sword, he’ll use this often and it will not only deal moderate damage, but also most likely Daze the target which will probably be your Tank. You’ll definitely want a second Tank so that they can pick up the slack if this happens.

Both Rhapsodic Blast and Phantasia Rush are frontal AoEs that deal a lot of damage, especially if you take the brunt of the damage. This is why Signifiers are so important for this battle, the defensive buffs will counteract a lot of the damage that these Arts will deal. Quick Tune-Up only makes matters worse as it will increase his Critical Rate and damage making these Arts even more fearsome.

Once you Enrage Consul Crys, he gets access to his final Art, Requiem Rain, which, like Rhapsodic Blast and Phantasia Rush, is a frontal AoE only this one will deal even more damage should you suffer the majority of hits so you’ll want to ensure that others have the means to revive outside of your Healers, be it with accessories or the Liberty Wing Interlink Art for Taion and Eunie.

Once Consul Crys is Enraged, you’ll want to look at ending the battle as quickly as possible, be it using a Chain Attack or Lv 3 Interlinks. Make use of Burst to strip him of Enrage as often as possible and keep up the damage. At this late stage of the game, your Healers should be a Signifier and a Troubadour which will make most battles a lot easier while you can use Miyabi as a Hero if you want to make use of her excellent Chain Attack abilities.