Xenoblade Chronicles 3 A Gray Matter Sidequest Guide

Fellow Ourobouros members, you are beginning to master the foundations of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. But, while your current party composition might be solid enough, there is always the desire to get more interesting Heroic Classes added to your roster. In fact, there is a completely optional one that might be one of the best pure DPS you can get early on in the game. This is our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 A Gray Matter sidequest guide.

Where To Start The Quest "A Gray Matter"

In order to start A Gray Matter, you will need to have gotten past Chapter 3 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3's main story. Once you have obtained the Wall-Climbing Traversal Skill and have at least reached level 26, you should be good to go.

As for A Gray Matter's exact location, it is in the Aetia Region. If you can, fast-travel to Kamos Guidepost. If you haven't unlocked this location on the map yet, fast-travel to the Hillside Ferronis Hulk, then head north to Luca's Eyot. If you followed our Going Beyond Power sidequest guide, this path should look quite familiar. Once you reach Luca's Eyot, head east up the hill. You should see an ancient looking column jutting out of the earth. That is Kamos Guidepost.

From there, head towards the purple vines and follow the slow incline of the cliffs up to the top. From here, a cutscene will play out and the quest will begin. Please note that depending on what time of day you start this quest, there might be monsters outside of your recommended level range. Simply turn the clock to morning or afternoon and you should be safe.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 A Gray Matter Sidequest Guide – Challenges

Depending on when you start A Gray Matter, it might be one of the more confusing quests in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. This isn't necessarily due to combat challenges or esoteric fetch quests, but due to a certain stretch of it in the middle.

But first, a layout of fights so you can plan ahead. The first fight is a boss battle against a Mysterious Man with a mask and wielding laser guns. Best advice I can give is just stack on evasion and block buffs so you don't get vaporized by his shots and wear him down. After that, a cutscene will play where the figure will leap off of a cliff and into the river below.

Carefully descend the mountain and reach the mission marker for the tracking portion of the quest. This is tutorialized in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in a straightforward manner. Hit the “A” button near a point of interest and some glowing footprints will appear. Next, just follow them to your target. But what the game doesn't tell you is that these tracks just stop at certain intervals. Worse still, they don't really give you any indicators on where to go to next.

Here's the trick. Once the tracks end, just keep moving in the same direction the tracks are facing. Eventually, a new set of tracks will appear. Imagine each set of tracks as a straight line and keep moving in that direction. Even if you are off by a little bit, you should always spot a new set of tracks every five seconds or so.

Once you have tracked down the Mysterious Man, you'll get into a fight with Agnian Forces. Take them out, bearing in mind our advice from the Combat Guide. Once that is done, you'll have another cutscene with the Mysterious Man, who goes by the name of Gray. After that, the quest is complete.

What does A Gray Matter Sidequest Unlock?

In addition to a bunch of experience, gold, and soul points, A Gray Matter unlocks the following in Xenoblade Chronicles 3:

The Full Metal Jaguar Character Class

The Full Metal Jaguar is an Attacker role class with Eunie as the inheritor. It is also a great pure damage class thanks to its powerful gun Arts. The gimmick is that each consecutive hit with your Arts increases your damage. Because of that, it focuses primarily on accuracy and powerful AOE blasts like Fatal Barrage or Violent Streak. There is also some survivability packed in with Evasion Arts like Quick Draw as well as aggro removal with Dead Set.

Furthermore, it must be stated that all of these gun attacks are Ether-based. This means these attacks and combos can shred both robotic as well as Moebius enemies if built right. Go nuts.

Recommended Gems: Empowered Combo, Accurate Grace, Steady Striker, Doublestrike

New Playable Hero: Ashenpelt Gray

If the Full Metal Jaguar is all about gun, then Gray is even more about guns. In addition to all of the raw power connected to his class, he has attacks that can potentially ignore defense altogether, giving him even more DPS when added to the group. This is coupled with his Sixth Sense Skill, which deals 80% more damage to an enemy if they are performing their own Arts during the attack. This is great for DPS checks against devastating boss attacks.

Finally, there is his Heroic Chain ability. It multiples the damage ratio increase by 1.5x if you use him in an order. Considering how much his damage can ramp up with ongoing Ether Defense debuffs and overlapping consecutive hits, if you use this Heroic Chain near the end of a Chain Attack, you'll be Overkilling your target more often than not.

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