The Final Battles

Learn strategies and tips for defeating Disciple Dickson and Zanza in the final battles of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. Prepare for the ultimate challenge!

Whether you took the Superbosses on or not, all that remains is to return to Prison Island to take the fight to Dickson and Zanza. Be sure you’re ready and consider lowering your levels should you want a challenge in these final battles.

Make your way back to Prison Island’s Gondorl Cathedral and head to the transporter you previously raised to trigger a scene. Make sure you’re fully ready and then take the transporter to reach the Prison Terrace.

Make your way along the linear path once you regain control and soon enough, you’ll spot your target, Dickson, in the distance.

Boss: Disciple Dickson

You finally have your chance for a showdown with Dickson. He has a tricky Spike Aura which will trigger Paralysis upon being struck, and a vast amount of damaging Arts. Attempting this battle at around his Level is a tricky one. To begin with, you’re going to have to bring his HP down to 50% before you can truly battle him to the death, so try and save your Chain Attacks for the second phase of this battle.

• Chaos Bullet VI — Dickson’s Ether based Talent Art that deals major damage to targets in a line while also inflicting Pierce on them, lowering all Defences to zero for the duration of the Debuff.
• Chaos Combo — A Physical based Art that deals light damage to a single target while inflicting Knockback. The damage of this Art is tripled when the target is Toppled.
• Chaos Dash — A Physical based Art that deals major damage to targets in a line while inflicting Topple.
• Chaos Punish — A Physical based Art that deals massive damage to targets in a circle around Dickson while also inflicting Blowback and Daze. The first phase will end when he uses this at 50% HP.
• Dark Power — Restores 5000 HP, removes Debuffs and grants Immunity to further Debuffs.
• Righteous Anger — Dickson will only use this in the second phase at 50% HP, granting him the Craze Aura that constantly regenerates his HP.
• Silent Chaos — An Ether based Art that deals moderate damage to a single target while also inflicting Arts Seal, Blowback, Daze and absorbing the target’s Talent Gauge.
• Treacherous Anger — Grants the Haste Buff to Dickson.
• Dickson’s Counter Aura will inflict Paralysis on you.

Disciple Dickson has many Arts that are truly deadly with his Talent Art causing the deadly Pierce Debuff; if you have Shulk in the Party, make sure to use the Monado to negate the effects of it. For the first battle, take it slow while you learn his attacks and whittle him down to 50% HP. Once the second battle begins, it’s the same situation, get him down to 50% HP and he’ll start using Righteous Anger, increasing his stats.

This is however, an all-out scrap to the death and he will use Chaos Punish at will which will deal massive damage. Try to keep your party spread out to avoid them all taking damage from Chaos Dash and his Talent Art and make use of your Chain Attacks that you should have been saving up. If you’re using Shulk and have taken the time to level up the Monado Armour Art, be sure to use it; at max level, 75% protection will help a lot against his high damage Arts.

Memory Space

Following your victory against Dickson, the party finds themselves stranded in a strange area and you’ll unlock the Landmark, Saturn, perhaps hinting at your possible location. Take another look at your party setup before you press on, for one, if you’ve not been using Shulk in your main party, consider taking the time to equip him, address his Skill Links and slot Gems on him; you will want him at some point during these final moments.

Once you’re ready, follow the linear path through the stars and you’ll pass a Lv 79 Spirit - Mumkhar before finding a portal that will take you on to Jupiter. Another enemy awaits you here, a Lv 78 Spirit - Xord, defeat it and then press on to the next portal that takes you to Mars. This time around, you’ll find yourself up against a Lv 80 Spirit - Telethia en route to the next portal. The next Landmark you unlock is the Moon and there’s one final Spirit up ahead, a Lv 78 Spirit - Gadolt. Before you take the next portal, take one final look at your party and equipment and then head through to trigger some scenes and the final battle.

Boss: Zanza

Phase One

The final battle against Zanza will take place over the course of three phases, each one more difficult than the last with new Arts on top of that. From the start, Zanza will use Summon Guardians to summon two Zanza Guardians, copies of his previous form that have full Monado power. They don’t have much HP but they will cause unwanted damage should they be left alone; make use of these Guardians to build your Party Gauge and unleash Chain Attacks on Zanza. Melia is useful for her area based Arts that inflict DoTs such as Blaze and Ice while Fiora’s Final Cross is a powerful Art should she reach High Tension.

• Monado Brave — Grants the Strength and Ether Up Buffs to targets in a circle around himself.
• Monado Cross VIII — Zanza’s Physical based Talent Art that deals major damage to targets in an arc in front of him while also dealing Knockback.
• Monado Fear — Inflicts the Strength a