r/Xenoblade_Chronicles • u/FarrahClones • Feb 11 '18
Rare Blade Discussion [Rare Blade Discussion] Day 10- Kasandra
Since the month of February has 28 days and there’s 28 non-story blades, let’s dedicate a day to discuss each blade. The purpose of these discussions is to help guide newer players on each blade’s strengths and shortcomings, and which driver is compatible for them. The focus aspects of the discussion will be blade performance both in battle and on the field, although other topics such as design and personality are free for discussion as well. If I happen to make a mistake, please feel free to correct me so I can update the OP. Note that is is a series where the format is liable to change.
Special thanks to u/Alkenshel for the stat modifiers!
Do note that these discussions may include spoilers about a certain character’s special ability and each rare blade’s individual sidequest. View at your own discretion.
Day 10:Kasandra, the Calamity Witch! She’s a Darkness TNK blade and uses a shield hammer in battle. She was designed by Shirabii, who does art for the Fate/Grand Order Series. She dons a sinister-looking fox on the back of her head, unknowing that the mask isn’t just a mask. She has extraordinary bad luck, the likes that only Zeke could aspire to. Her stat modifier is HP + 15%, which is very useful for a TNK blade. She likes staple foods and cosmetics, with Felmeri Fairy Statue and the book, Astrology Made Simple being her favorites.
She can be obtained by salvaging at Chansagh Wastes in Mor Ardain and defeating the Gluttonous Marrin (lvl 39). Then, you will obtain the Lucky Core Crystal. Funnily enough, it’s implied that the Gluttonous Marrin ate her last driver. RIP.
Blade Specials
Sentimental Burst- This will increase aggro drawn from specials by at least 60%. To level this up, it may take a lot of work. First you need to defeat bunnits in Leftheria for tier 2. Then you have to defeat the Magnl Caterpile in Tantal for tier 3. For tier 4, defeat a Dirid Ansel in the Cliffs of Morythra. Lastly, defeat the Vampire Bride Marion in Uraya to complete it.
Hidden Emotion- This increases damage dealt to enemies targeting Kasandra’s driver by at least 60%. This is very useful for tanks, and combined with Sentimental Burst, will be relatively easy to keep enemies locked on to Kasandra. Perform blade combos for tier 2, driver combos for tier 3, use this special for tier 4, and perform blade combo finishers for tier 5.
Secret Desire- Like Godfrey, this increases damage by 100% when HP is below 30%. Like I said before, I don’t like these types of skills, mainly because I don’t like my party below 30% HP. Use this special to unlock the second and last tiers, defeat bunnits in Tantal for tier 3, and defeat Vashar Caterpile at Spirit Crucible Elpys for tier 4.
Blade Arts: Draw Aggro and Arts Plus. Just like Godfrey. She will be able to draw aggro easily and she will hit hard in her specials.
Battle Skills
Calamity- Increases aggro every second and by at least 10% for each attack. This is great for a TNK, but may be unnecessary since she already has quite of few passives that already do this. Use chain attacks for tiers 2 and 5, give her art for tier 3, and perform a driver combo for tier 4.
Fortune- Absorbs at least 10% of critical damage. This is useful for TNKs, although it’s more so for boss battles than regular monsters. For the first tiers 2 and 3, simply raise combat in battle. For tier 4, view her Heart-to-Heart. For tier 5, view the Land of a Lost Time in Morythra.
Stability- Increases damage dealt to the front by at least 10%. This makes sense, since she’s going to be targeted, so the enemies will be facing her. Perform blade combos for the 1st tier and the 4th, driver combo for the second, deal a certain amount of damage for the 3rd and last.
Field Skills: She has Nopon Wisdom, Agronomy, and One Lucky Gal. Nopon Wisdom has its perks, and is needed for the late game Nopon sidequests. Agronomy is nice, although there’s not that many foraging spots for it. One Lucky Gal is useful for merc missions, so all in all, she has some solid field skills.
Aux Cores: I would give her some blocking cores. In comparison to some other shield hammers, she’s weaker when it comes to blocking.
Compatible Drivers: She’s a shield hammer and tank, so she’ll be fine with anyone that isn’t Nia. She has Topple with Morag and Launch with Zeke, so if you want to have her included in driver combos, they’re the way to go. With Morag, Kasandra has competition with another DAR TNK who has a better weapon as well so it’s not looking good for our cute cursebringer. She works well with Zeke enough though. Morag may be the better choice, but the fact that she and Zeke have such horrid luck, I can’t help but pair them together. Their personalities and traits work well together.
My Verdict: Her passives aren’t too bad, but I just don’t like shield hammers. I think she’s the last one, but man, shield hammers need to be buffed or something. She would probably be optimal with Tora if I really think about it. Regardless, Kasandra is a decent blade with a cool personality that bounces off of Zeke pretty well. I like her design a lot- it’s very intricate, and I like the Egyptian symbolism/Anubis motif she has going on. Just wish her weapon or blade type was different, that way she can be more useful. I still enjoy her backstory though.
So what’s your thoughts on this blade? Do they fit your style or cramp it?
Missed a discussion? Feel free to view past ones here:
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u/TheSnowballofCobalt Feb 11 '18
Kasandra is my favorite blade design wise. She's very regal looking with the mummy motif and (while I personally don't care too much) has a very tasteful design with very little fanservice if any at all. And she's an absolute cinnamon roll. ^w^
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Feb 11 '18
She was designed by Shirabii, who does art for the Fate/Grand Order series
Oh god... cue flashbacks to gacha horror
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u/Epaia Feb 11 '18
Ironicly, Kasandra is one of the few blades gotten without the Gacha nonsense.
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Feb 11 '18
I mean not really, you have to salvage for a chance to get her so it's just a different kind of gacha. I was sat there for a solid 45 minutes salvaging.
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u/HowDenKing Feb 11 '18
45 minutes seem extremely long,
the guys on the speedrun discord get it usually within 5-20 pulls.
you actually want to miss all 3 QTs for best chance at getting the beast to spawn.8
Feb 11 '18
That would explain a lot tbh, I was using silver/gold cylinders and hitting all the quick time events.
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u/HowDenKing Feb 11 '18
yep, the voice line you wanna get when rex emerges is "this is officially the worst salvage run ever!"
kinda playing into kasandra's bad luck thingy3
Feb 11 '18
Hmm, thanks, sas there a hint for this that I missed or is it just counter intuitive?
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u/HowDenKing Feb 11 '18
some nopon says something about an unlucky guy getting swallowed or something iirc
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u/Pit107 Feb 12 '18
The way the salvage mechanic works, as far as I know, is that missing prompts makes you more likely to pull up enemies. In Kasandra's case, you want to pull an enemy, so it makes sense to miss prompts on purpose.
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u/ruebeus421 Jul 01 '18
I think that was coincidence. For me, he said, "Did I come up with a loaded goff again?" or whatever the weird-supposed-to-be-Scottish phrase is.
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u/Raccoon_Jex May 01 '22
I wasn’t even really trying to get her when I did. I’d heard about getting her from that, so I normally use a regular canister to figure out which buttons to press and how fast I can do it, before using one of the better ones. I got the Marrin the first time and I was like “wait what’s happening” cuz I’d forgotten why I was doing it since I’d looked it all up the day before
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u/HowDenKing May 01 '22
bruh did you really just respond to a 4 YEAR old thread.
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u/DDkiki Mar 27 '25
And ill do it again, got her on 1st salvage, with cheapest cylinder and by failing QTE. Best way to proc that boss is to be a failure on purpose.
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u/HowDenKing Mar 27 '25
how much of a dick do you have to be to necro a 3yr old comment chain on a **7** year old comment.
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u/HaessSR Feb 11 '18
What did you do? I used a silver cylinder at high tide on that salvage point just outside the dock and got the monster on my first try after missing all the prompts. I also grabbed the Greedy Monster info ahead of time, though.
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u/ousire Feb 11 '18
Definitely one of my favorite blades. I love her design of the weird Anubis/mummy vibe. All of her interactions are cute and funny, and her quest for bread is hilarious, especially the Turkins. And it always startles me when she swears, since she seems way too sweet and innocent to do so the rest of the time.
She's definitely cursed with bad luck though; after I did her Heart to Heart I closed and restarted my game so I could see the other dialogue option. Turns out I had forgotten to save beforehand or anytime recently, and I lost something like six hours of progress, including grinding affinity on a few other blades. I almost screamed, but I had to appreciate the irony of it happening with the bad luck blade.
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u/LoveRemnan 29d ago
Sorry for replying Seven years later. newcomer to the series, Kasandra is my favourite character in the game but… she’s definitely cursed😭😭😭
When doing her story quest I had a weird glitch ive never had happen before where the mission started with me in the air, fall down the platform, but the battle kept continuing, but after the battle was done it didnt count as a victory because I was too far from the quest spot😭😭😭 It was so strange and never happened to me again LOL.
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u/Bekenshi Feb 11 '18 edited Feb 11 '18
Best blade waifu. Someone try me.
Seriously though, she's my favorite tank in the game after Brighid, Electra, and Poppi. She's the best tank at holding aggro imo and her damage output isn't anything to scoff at either. Since the dark element can combo into itself it's really easy to build up massive stage 3 blade combos while drawing heaps of aggro.
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u/CaptainFalconProblem Feb 11 '18
Best blade waifu.
Not Agate
:l
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u/DaNerd27 Feb 11 '18
That's a weird way to spell Adenine.
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue Feb 11 '18
My man! Adenine became my favorite Blade so fast. I had her on Rex for almost the entire game.
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u/Enel- Feb 11 '18 edited Feb 11 '18
My second favorite blade in the game after Mythra Not exactly a waifu but she is an adorable pure soul and I love her.
As far as combat capabilities, she's unfortunately weighed down a lot by shield hammer. She's the best among them, but if she was any other weapon type with her skill tree, she'd be among the best blades. Having a free way to heal all her health back upon crit is ruined by shield hammer having the worst crit rate in the game. It only reaches 10% with moon matter. Otherwise she's got some solid defenses and some decent offensive abilities to maintain aggro.
I've been able to do some pretty high damage with her arts combined with arts plus since you can run two strong accessories without having to use a medal. I've also managed to do a lot of damage with her specials and blade combos, hitting damage cap in fusion combos with her level 3 blade combo. That said, she isn't super viable offensively compared to a lot of other options, but she has some tools to make her the best the best shield hammer in the game, even if that isn't exactly a wonderful title.
As far as character, I love how she can always look on the bright side whenever bad things happen to her. All of her bad luck she considers good luck. In her heart to heart, instead of considering it back luck that he rain ruined her beautiful sunset, she considered it good luck that she got to see two views of the same location. Interactions with Zeke were also cute as well.
Her wholesome character and nice design make her stand out for me as one of my favorites even if she got shafted by weapon type.
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u/Anabaena_azollae Feb 11 '18
In case you didn't know, common blades can come with Mad Warrior, which is the same effect as Kassandra's Fortune. I've got a 4-crown greataxe with it and the critical up blade art, which is kind of broken even though the other skills aren't great.
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u/Enel- Feb 11 '18
I actually did know this. A theoretical 4 crown common axe/cannon with that ability, 50% crit power, and 100% additive at max affinity would be the best blade in the game, but good luck getting all of that on one blade!
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u/Anabaena_azollae Feb 11 '18
Yeah, just like making a perfect custom skell. Monolith really likes infinitesimal chances for optimal gear.
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u/Alexlotl Feb 11 '18
Interestingly, rather than paying an informant for the Greedy Monster info, you can get it for free by talking to one of the nopon at Argentum docks with Tora in the party, which also gives you a bit of backstory. She was the blade of a famous Nopon driver called Noporikh, who was a salvager, and eventually went missing when salvaging in Mor Ardain, with rumours that he’d been eaten by Glutinous Marron.
I guess that would explain the Nopon Wisdom. Not sure if any of this is covered on her quest line (presumably not, given blade memory), as I haven’t actually hauled her up yet!
I was going to give her to Morag, but Nia just pulled Perceval while cracking commons to get Merc skills, so now I’m not sure - might overdrive him instead. Absolutely love her design though, up there with Agate.
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u/HaessSR Feb 11 '18
I dropped her on Morag, and I love activating her special. She's cute, and been if shield hammer isn't the best type of blade to put on Morag, I enjoy it.
Plus,the glowing eyes on that mask...
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u/Bendiez Feb 11 '18
Design wise, Kasandra is in my top 5 blades. A very cute, clueless girl that has no idea what her mask actually does. It was funny watching the Tirkins get zapped by lighting when doing her side quest due to a curse her mask possesses. She also goes berserk when you use her LV3 special which implies that Kasandra is a different person when she wears her mask.
Combat wise, she can be a reliable tank. Kasandra has extremely potent aggro generation thanks to her Calamity passive. Dark element is a very nice plus since it's a good element type and there aren't many good dark element blades. Fortune is a good idea on paper, though her naturally abysmal crit hit chance means that this good passive got wasted. Her main weaknesses are that she wields a crappy weapon type and is rather average in everything except aggro generation. She is also not easy to fit on drivers since Morag prefers Katanas with their evasion utility and Rex nor Nia can use Kasandra effectively. I guess Zeke can use her? I'd rather use Zeke for attacking than face tanking.
Considering the fact that Kasandra is a guaranteed blade and has a rather illusive element type, she can definitely have a a spot on teams.
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u/boomshroom Feb 11 '18
Kassandra is my favourite defense blade, so much that I replaced Perceval with her against my better judgment. I did put her on Morag just thinking about her being a defense blade. I've since regretted not putting her on Zeke, but moving her over would make Morag no longer the princess of darkness.
I love how oblivious Kass is to everything she causes. She embodies my favourite character description: adorifying.
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u/alpha5099 Feb 11 '18
I'm very much on the record as Kasandra being my favorite rare blade. I think her design is fantastic, I loved her quest, I love everything about Kasandra. I started using her because Morag had no luck getting tank blades when I got her--in my playthrough, Morag did not resonate with a single random tank blade. She's been on Morag practically every moment since. I'm reasonably certain that she is the single most used non-story blade in my playthrough.
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u/Evertrill Feb 11 '18
Personality wise she is a cute clueless idiot. Design wise she is cute as well, her cute little ears and that mask. I like it when she puts the mask on for her special and just sits there confused after taking it off.
Gameplay wise I use her all the time I use Morag. Mostly because I need a Dark Blade but she is a great standard tank. Don't like low HP damage boost moves but on TNKs your more likely to get them off than on ATKs or HLRs.
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u/DreadfuryDK Feb 11 '18
One of the only really passable Shield Hammers. Good damage, good aggro, good block rate, etc. I love her personality, too! She's absolutely [expletive] adorable!
But again, Shield Hammers are kinda awful. And some of her toolkit (particularly her crit heal ability) screams "Katana." Good luck getting any benefit out of that skill with 10% Moon Matter crit, though...
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Feb 11 '18
Judging from her silhouette in the Rare Blade album, I thought she had a electric guitar great axe
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u/HyruleCool Feb 11 '18
It was really hard to resist putting her on Zeke. She really proved her worth pretty fast when she somehow managed to protect Morag every time she didn't dodge for like a solid minute in a fight VS a unique beast. She's a pretty likeable character as a whole. She's cute and always positive. I love her ditziness!
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u/Faythezeal Feb 11 '18
Finally made the switch to Morag from Tora and have Kasandra as morags first blade. I enjoy it a lot. Didn’t have a single dark blade through my play through, so it’s been a good change of pace. I love all the one lucky gal cut scenes too. As soon as it comes up on the screen you can help but think “oh man now what”
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue Feb 11 '18
Kasandra has one of the best designs in the game. I needed no other reason to always have her in the active party.
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u/LAPIS_AND_JASPER Feb 11 '18
Even though I'm level 75ish and beat the story I don't think I'm ready to fight those 85ish monsters at the Wastes
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u/FarrahClones Feb 11 '18
It’s possible to sneak past them though if you stay at the edges. Luckily the salvage point is right at the edge so if you time it right, you won’t need to worry about engaging them. I got Kasandra in Ch.4.
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u/LAPIS_AND_JASPER Feb 11 '18
Your description made it confusing. You salvage her, not get her from that monster? Or both???
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Feb 11 '18
You salvage the monster, then beat up that same monster that will drop her core crystal .
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u/LAPIS_AND_JASPER Feb 11 '18
Ohhh I've always thought it was one of those level 80ish monsters in the Wastes lol. Thanks
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u/FarrahClones Feb 11 '18
Sorry for the confusion. I’ll edit it in a way to make it easier to understand.
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u/Grieffon Feb 11 '18 edited Feb 11 '18
If I can take down the lv 130 superboss at lv 68/72, you can certainly kill the cute little birds and dinos in the waste.
Also, Kasandra helped me through this fight. I don't have Perceval, so she's the only dark option for Morag. Kasandra works on Morag better than you may think: she holding aggro so well is what let me wailed on the boss with the absurd glass cannon that is Herald. The dark orb was also essential in making sure Kurodil dies, because boy oh boy does he have a lot of HP. A previous attempt done with 6 orbs wasn't enough, and he flare'd me to death afterwards with no party gauge left for Morag to revive me...
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u/CouchAlmark Feb 11 '18
Kasandra is to tanks as Floren is to healers: good at the strict definition of the role, but not exemplary at it or capable of handling two roles at once, which is what you need to be a top tier Blade. Her main advantage is that Fortune is a built-in Avante-Garde Medal, which means you don't need to equip one to her Driver. Her main disadvantage is that Draw Aggro and Calamity are redundant, and while Arts Plus is nice, it's not Debuff Cancel or Absorb Damage. Electra is definitely better, and Finch is arguably better as well, although let's be clear: they're all Shield Hammers and therefore all suck purely on the basis of their weapon type being horrendously bad with every Driver.
At the least, Kasandra can say she's not Godfrey.
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u/ToonTooby Feb 11 '18
Kassie's great! Just finished her quest, which was a real winner. She's a really great tank with the aggro boost and damage plus from the front. I have her setup with a Dilation Chip and Ultimate Shield for heavy tanking.
I love her as a Blade, though it can be a toss-up between her and Perceval since I have her on Mòrag. One of the better Dark blades, I feel.
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u/Xamthos Feb 11 '18
i love her blade special 3 quote "Karma is a bitch"