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This is a tier list of the best gems in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (XC1). Check out which gems are the best to craft, which gems you should equip, and explanations on why these gems are the best.
List of Contents
Here is our gem tier list. Here we will list and sort them by rank, with S tier being the highest and C tier being the lowest. Gems with an “*” will have their tier placement explained below.
| Name | Effect | Max Value |
|---|---|---|
| Agility Up* | Increases agility. | 50 |
| AP Up | Increases the amount of AP gained after defeating an enemy by (%). | 200% |
| Critical Up | Increases a weapon's critical hit rate by (%). | 25% |
| Debuff Resist* | Grants resistance against all debuffs by (%). | 100% |
| Double Attack | Increases chance of performing a double attack by (%). | 50% |
| EXP Up | Increases the amount of EXP gained after defeating an enemy by (%). | 200% |
| Haste | Increases the speed of auto-attacks by (%). | 50% |
| Night Vision* | Increases the accuracy of physical attacks during the night by (%). | 50% |
| Spike Defence* | Decreases Spike damage taken by (%). | 100% |
| Strength Up* | Increase Strength. | 150 |
| Topple Plus* | Extends the duration for which an enemy suffers Topple by (%). | 100% |
| Unbeatable* | Chance of survival with 1 HP when Incapacitated by (%). | 50% |
The most broken stat in the game. We would love to give agility up gem a whole different tier just to show how good agility gems are. Any character benefits from a boosted agility stat, a high-agility tank will really help your team.
Remember those nasty debuffs? Remember Avalanche Abaasy's instant death spike ability? You can ignore all of those with a maxed out Debuff Resist gem. Easily one of the most broken gems in the game.
The Night Vision Gem seems like a weak gem at first glance, but its effect shows when you attempt to fight enemies above the level cap. These enemies will barely be hit, but Night Vision gems can solve that problem.
Spike Abilities, especially counter spike, can be the downfall of a high aggression team. Spike Defence Gems allow you to endure or downright ignore their spike abilities, which puts this gem in the S tier.
Same with Agility Up, Strength Up gems are so busted for characters that can make use of it. Make sure to always have some strength up gems for your physical damage dealers.
Topple Locking is an infamous strategy for dealing with high level enemies, and for good reason. Topple Plus gems make a topple lock team composition work even better.
A gem that prevents you from dying after taking a lethal hit. It works even if your HP is only 1 which makes it one of the best defensive gems in the game.
| Name | Effect | Max Value |
|---|---|---|
| Aggro Down* | Reduces aggro by (%). | 50% |
| Arts Heal* | HP recovered when Arts are used. | 150 |
| Attack Plus | Increases a weapon's maximum damage by (%). | 50% |
| Attack Stability | Increases a weapon's minimum damage by (%). | 50% |
| Back Atk Plus* | Increases Back Attack damage dealt by (%). | 100% |
| Chill Plus* | Increases Chill damage dealt. | 100 |
| Daze Plus* | Extends the duration for which an enemy suffers Daze by (%). | 100% |
| Daze Resist | Grants resistance against Daze by (%). | 100% |
| Electric Plus | Increases Electric damage dealt by (%). | 100% |
| Ether Up | Increases ether. | 150 |
| Good Footing | Grants resistance against Blow-Down by (%). | 100% |
| HP Up | Increases maximum HP by (%). | 50% |
| Muscle Up | Increases physical defence. | 100 |
| Quick Step* | Increases movement speed by (%). | 25% |
| Recovery Up | Increases the amount of HP recovered when healed in battle by (%). | 50% |
| Topple Resist | Grants resistance against Topple by (%). | 100% |
| Topple Up | Increases the damage dealt to enemies suffering Topple by (%). | 100% |
| Weapon Power | Increases the activation rate for the effects of gems mounted on weapons by (%). | 50% |
Aggro Down Gems can fulfill the role of all aggro reducing gems (stealth arts and attack stealth) alone. It gets a higher tier than others since it's a universal gem that can fulfill the role of its counterparts singlehandedly.
Arts Heal is a valuable gem for a team with a pure offensive composition (no Sharla and Riki team). Don't be fooled by the low healing it gives, Arts Heal can sustain your characters (especially the squishy ones) if you spam your arts. Those small heals will eventually stack up.
A great gem to have for some characters. Its effect is enough for it to reach the A tier, but it being only usable by damage dealers makes it fall short of the S tier.
Daze Plus works similarly to Topple Plus, except Dazing enemies is harder than Toppling them. Daze also has a lower duration than topple skills, which makes this gem weaker than topple plus gems. The final nail in the coffin to put Daze Plus lower in our tier list is due to the strongest bosses being immune to Daze.
Quick Step is a non-combat gem, but the mobility it gives the player when exploring makes mapping out the whole titan easier and faster. Not a great gem to have normally but it's one of the best gems for completionists out there! Just be sure and swap it out before battling with any super bosses.
| Name | Effect | Max Value |
|---|---|---|
| Aggro Up | Increases aggro when dealing damage by (%). | 50% |
| Arts Seal Resist | Grants resistance against Arts Seal by (%). | 100% |
| Arts Stealth | Reduces aggro drawn from using Arts by (%). | 50% |
| Aura Heal | HP recovered at regular intervals while an aura is active. | 150 |
| Auto-Atk Stealth | Reduces aggro drawn from using auto-attacks by (%). | 50% |
| Bind Resist | Grants resistance against Bind by (%). | 100% |
| Blaze Attack | Chance that successful attacks will deal additional Blaze damage. | 400 |
| Blaze Plus | Increases Blaze damage dealt by (%). | 100% |
| Bleed Attack | Chance to inflict bleed on the enemy. | 250 |
| Chill Attack | Chance that successful attacks will deal additional Chill damage by (%). | 300% |
| Confuse Resist | Grants resistance against Confuse by (%). | 100% |
| Damage Heal | Chance of recovering HP when attacked. | 200 |
| Daze Tension | For each attack on an enemy suffering Daze, tension is raised. | 25 |
| Daze Up | Increases the damage dealt to enemies suffering Daze by (%). | 100% |
| Debuff Plus | Extends gem debuff duration by (%). | 150% |
| Divine Protect | Grants resistance against Instant Death by (%). | 100% |
| Ether Def Up | Increases ether defence. | 100 |
| First Atk Plus | Increases the damage dealt by the First Attack by (%). | 150% |
| Heat Sink | Reduces heating of Ether Rifle by (%). | 75% |
| Lightning Attack | Successful attacks deal additional Electric damage. | 500 |
| Lock-On Resist | Grants resistance against Lock-On by (%). | 100% |
| Phys Def Down | Chance that successful attacks will reduce enemy physical defence by (%). | 25% |
| Poison Attack | Chance that successful attacks will deal additional Poison damage. | 500 |
| Poison Plus | Increases Poison damage dealt by (%). | 100% |
| Sleep Resist | Grants resistance against Sleep by (%). | 100% |
| Slow Resist | Grants resistance against Slow by (%). | 100% |
| Strength Down | Chance that successful attacks will decrease enemy strength by (%). | 25% |
| Name | Effect | Max Value |
|---|---|---|
| Aerial Cloak | Reduces the detection range of aerial enemies by (%). | 60% |
| Agility Down | Chance that successful attacks will reduce enemy agility by (%). | 25% |
| Aquatic Cloak | Decreases the Detection Range of aquatic monsters by (%). | 60% |
| Auto-Heal Up | Increases Auto-Heal HP by (%). | 25% |
| Bind | Chance that successful attacks will inflict Bind by (%). | 25% |
| Blaze Defence | Reduces Blaze damage taken by (%). | 100% |
| Bleed Defence | Reduces Bleed damage taken by (%). | 100% |
| Bleed Plus | Increases Bleed damage dealt by (%). | 100% |
| Break | Chance that successful attacks will inflict Break by (%). | 25% |
| Buff Time Plus | Extends gem buff duration by (%). | 150% |
| Chill Defence | Decreases Chill damage received by (%). | 100% |
| Earth Cloak | Reduces the detection range of ground enemies by (%). | 60% |
| Ether Def Down | Chance of successful attacks reducing ether defence by (%). | 25% |
| Ether Down | Chance that successful attacks will reduce enemy ether by (%). | 25% |
| Ether Protect | Activated at the start of a battle by (%). Reduces ether damage by (%). | 50% |
| Fall Defense | Reduces damage taken from falling by (%). | 75% |
| HP Steal | Chance that successful attacks will recover HP. | 200 |
| Initial Tension | Increases tension when battle starts. | 100 |
| Paralysis | Chance that successful attacks will inflict Paralysis by (%). | 25% |
| Paralysis Resist | Grants resistance against Paralysis by (%). | 100% |
| Physical Protect | Activated at the start of a battle by (%). Reduces physical damage by (%). | 50% |
| Pierce Resist | Grants resistance against Pierce by (%). | 100% |
| Poison Defence | Decreases Poison damage taken by (%). | 100% |
| Revival HP Up | Increases the amount of HP recovered when revived during battle by (%). | 30% |
| Slow | Chance that successful attacks will inflict Slow by (%). | 25% |
| Spike* | Deal damage back to the attacker when attacked. | 250 |
| Talent Boost | Halves auto-attack damage but auto-attacks increase Talent Gauge more. | 12 |
| Tension Swing | Allows tension to change more easily by (%). | 50% |
| Terrain Defence | Reduces damage received from terrain by (%). | 75% |
Spike seems like a great gem at first glance, until you remember that enemies don't attack you as rapidly as you do to them. Its max value is also pretty low, making the counter to their slow attacks even weaker. Not a great gem to have, even for the characters that can fully utilize it.
We ranked gems higher by their effect. How much can that gem change the way you play, how much can it aid you when aiming to do a specific goal? This makes a gem like Spike get a low placement due to its low effect, while gems like Quick Step reach a high tier due to how great it helps you when you do use it.
We placed gems that can be used by a wide array of characters at a higher tier. Gems like Agility Up, which can be used by nearly all of your characters reach the S tier.
We also considered how much you can rely on the specific effects of gems. Gems like HP Steal fulfills the role of passive healing, but it only occurs at a low chance, while arts heal can heal you every time you use an art.
Multiple gems can technically fulfill the same role. We rated gems that can best do that role at a higher tier and pushed the weaker ones lower. Gems like Double Attack and Haste are placed higher than Talent Boost, since increasing your attack rate will also indirectly increase your talent gauge, but instead of suffering from a lower attack stat, you can deal more damage!
| Gem Equipment Types | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Armour | All |
| Gem Categories | ||
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Attribute | Defence |
| Field | Special | Support |
| Gem Colors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Red | Blue | Yellow |
| Light Blue | Green | Orange |
| Gem Guides | |
|---|---|
| Gem Tier List | Gem Crafting Guide |
also worth noting: you can get 45% Haste on the arm-slot, instead of using a valuable Weapon Slot for 50% Haste, when equipping Glory Gauntlets
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There's a lot this article misses the mark on for good gems. Back attack is completely wrong, it works on all attacks. It is one of the strongest damage multiplying gems in the game. I highly recommend a YouTuber called Enel. He has extensive gameplay guides for everything with this game and they're neatly organised in a playlist so you can skip to what you need to know about, plus the comments section has healthy discussion and optimisation strategies related to the videos typically.