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==Strategy== Pouch items are often overlooked by new players, but when used properly, they are one of if not the most critical part of out-of-combat setup in ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' and ''Torna ~ The Golden Country'', and the best ones are essentially always worth any money needed to acquire them. ===Useful effects to focus on=== The most important (and, in many setups, necessary) use for pouch items is to speed up the rate at which [[Driver Art]]s and {{XC2|Special}}s can be used, allowing for more [[Driver Combo]]s, [[Blade Combo]]s, and higher combat elements such as {{XC2|Chain Attack}}s and [[Fusion Combo]]s. Driver Arts are made more available with effects which passively recharge Arts a certain amount every second (the main effect of [[Dessert]]s). Specials can be directly made more available through effects that passively recharge the Special gauge every second (the main effect of [[Instrument]]s), but in practice (usually — see below) it is more effective to stack as much Arts recharge as possible and build up the Special gauge faster through using more Driver Arts. This makes Arts recharge by far the most important effect to focus on when choosing Pouch Items to use in all stages of play. Another very practical (albeit secondary) effect to focus on is party gauge gain increase (the main effect of [[Drink]]s and [[Charm]]s). This is particularly useful if one's party members are frequently becoming {{XC2|Incapacitated}}. It is also handy in {{XC2|Overdrive}}-focused strategies as well as those that focus on quickly building up for relatively small {{XC2|Chain Attack}}s. It is less useful for strategies that focus on building up many orbs for a large Chain Attack, as the party gauge will ideally have filled up anyway when the time comes to use it (although the benefit of it being easier to revive fallen party members remains if that is a concern).<br/> Importantly, it is often all but necessary in {{b|Bringer of Chaos|difficulty}} difficulty, where party gauge gain is much lower by default. Increasing the damage dealt by {{XC2|Special}}s (the main effect of [[Literature]] and [[Script]]s) is always a major boon. [[Blade Combo]]s, Chain Attacks, and [[Fusion Combo]]s are the player's three main bread-and-butter sources of damage, and in all cases the damage they deal is directly proportional to the Specials used in them. Therefore, increasing Special damage is an excellent way to increase the player's overall damage in the few situations where Arts recharge does not have as great an effect. Other effects have varying levels of practicality. {{XC2|Affinity}} is crucial in combat, but unless it is constantly being lost midway through combat (which is often but not always partially avoidable), it is usually more effective to keep it at maximum via [[Hunter's Chemistry]] [[Aux Core]]s or [[Skill RAM]] than through Pouch Item effects (although the two may be used in conjunction if the former is not sufficient). Additional physical and/or ether defense can be handy, especially early on, but its practicality is very strategy-dependent (for example, it becomes accordingly less useful in parties with high {{XC2|Evasion}}). Likewise, boosting HP recovery is useful early on, but in the lategame and postgame, sources of healing (when they are necessary at all) are already typically strong enough to near-fully heal the Driver all at once. [[Damage barrier]]s, when brought about by Pouch Items, are typically single-use per battle, making them suboptimal. Some [[Blade Art]]s have useful effects, but (especially because arguably the two most useful Blade Arts are unaffected by Pouch Items) it is almost always better to focus on other combat elements. ===Early-game strategy=== In ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'', the dessert [[Narcipear Jelly]] is available for purchase at [[Honeycomb Sweets]] in [[Argentum]] from the start of the game. It provides 0.4 Arts recharge per second (as strong as the effect gets among easily-obtainable items) alongside substantial defensive bonuses, making it one of the best pouch items in the game. A simple but very effective strategy early on is to buy as many of these as possible and use them on every [[Driver]]; doing so makes all Drivers much more capable and speeds up combat substantially in the early game. At the end of {{XC2|Chapter 2}}, the player obtains a [[Pouch Expansion Kit]]. (The most effective use of this by far is on whatever [[Driver]] the player most often controls.) However, maxing out Arts recharge with two Pouch Items at this stage, while possible (if one exploits favourite pouch items - see above), is not as optimal as one might think. The reason for this is that the player will almost certainly not have access to [[Arts Chain]], and will therefore need to cancel {{XC2|Auto-attack}}s to build up the Special gauge most efficiently; therefore, the player will be auto-attacking regardless of whether or not it is needed to recharge Driver Arts, and so these auto-attacks may as well be used for that purpose. It is still ideal to avoid auto-attacking any more than what is necessary for Driver Art cancelling, so the 0.4 Arts recharge per second from Narcipear Jelly remains valuable, but the second pouch item may be best used for other effects, chiefly Special recharge (from [[Instrument]]s). ===Midgame and lategame strategy=== The picture changes drastically when the player gets access to [[Arts Chain]] (and its equivalents on other [[Driver]]s), typically around {{XC2|Chapter 4}} for {{gp|Rex|XC2}} and {{gp|Nia|XC2}}. By this point, auto-attacking is no longer necessary except for recharging [[Driver Art]]s; therefore, bypassing the slow process of auto-attacking as much as possible becomes central to one's setup. The main goal is to stack as much Arts recharge as possible; a quick and dirty way to do this is to simply put a strong [[Dessert]] in each pouch, e.g. [[Narcipear Jelly]] and [[Sparklesugar]]. The benefits of doing so are great, and while more optimal setups exist, they have diminishing returns on the effort required. Aforementioned more optimal setups make use of favourite Pouch Items (see above) to boost the effects achieved. In this way, a pouch item with a weaker Arts recharge effect as written may in practice turn out to be stronger if it is also the favourite type or item of the Driver or Blade in question. This is especially useful if the pouch item's other effects are desirable. Finding Pouch Items which have good Arts recharge, good additional effects, and which may be the favourite item of a character in use often requires completing [[Merc Mission]]s which give [[Contract]]s as a reward. Some good items are also made available through [[exchange]]s by unlocking specific {{XC2|Field Skill}}s of various {{XC2|Blade}}s: [[Just Desserts|Gorg]]'s are the best for most purposes, yielding strong [[Dessert]]s (including the [[Lovemerry Cake]], which has the single strongest Arts recharge effect in the game), but [[Dahlia's Icecraft|Dahlia]]'s and [[Vale's Weaving|Vale]]'s crafted items may also be useful in certain circumstances.<br/> Note, however, that crafting takes substantial player effort - much more than that required to acquire purchasable pouch items. It should by no means be seen as a necessity; the benefits of an easy-but-suboptimal setup with lots of Arts recharge over no pouch items are far and away greater than the benefits of an optimal setup over a suboptimal one. ===Postgame strategy=== For difficult postgame content, especially {{XC2|Challenge Battle Mode}} and playing at higher difficulty levels, the benefits of optimal Pouch Item setups become more relevant. At these stages, reaching the cap of 1 Arts recharge per second becomes more desirable and, if the player has been completing [[Merc Mission]]s, more achievable. This cap cannot be reached without exploiting characters' favourite pouch items. A sample setup for each [[Driver]] which provides 1 Arts recharge per second, regardless of equipped {{XC2|Blade}}s, is as follows: {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ![[Driver]] !Left pouch item !Right pouch item |- !{{gp|Rex|XC2}} |[[Lovemerry Cake]] |[[Victory Smoothie]] |- !{{gp|Nia|XC2}} |[[Narcipear Jelly]]<br/>[[Hot Ruby Steamed Bun]] |[[Cream Orange Paratha]]<br/>[[Fish and Herb Broth]] |- !{{gp|Tora}} |[[Lovemerry Cake]] |[[Victory Smoothie]] |- !{{gp|Mòrag}} |[[Lovemerry Cake]] |[[Pickled Ice Cabbage]] |- !{{gp|Zeke}} |[[Char-Grilled Grumbird]] |[[Glarna Stir-Fry]] |} (For Nia, any of the two options in either the left or the right pouch may be used.) Note the specification on which item goes in which pouch; this is due to the Pouch Item glitch (see above). Swapping the order of which item goes in which pouch may not result in the effects being of the same strength. The above table is only an example of a {{XC2|Blade}}-independent setup which allows for 1 Arts recharge per second on each [[Driver]]. When using a Blade who likes [[Dessert]]s (e.g. {{gp|Mythra|XC2}} or {{gp|Brighid|XC2}}), it may be better to focus on those instead (ensuring that a Dessert is placed in the rightmost pouch of the relevant Driver), specifically using Desserts with beneficial additional effects (e.g. [[Hot Ruby Steamed Bun]]s). {{incomplete|Torna-specific strategy}} ===Non–Arts recharge setups=== Specials and/or Driver Arts are always necessary in combat, so having a good way to recharge Driver Arts quickly is paramount. But if this can be done using methods other than Pouch Items (discounting auto-attacking which is essentially never optimal), it may free up Pouch Items to fulfil other uses. There are two main methods of doing this: crit recharge and Blade/{{XC2|Vanguard}} switching. Several weapon classes (most notably [[Greataxe]]s and {{XC2|Knives}}) possess [[Driver Art]]s that partially recharge if one of their hits is a {{XC2|critical hit}} ('crit'). If these are levelled up to level 5 (or to level 4 and used at maximum {{XC2|Affinity}}), the partial recharge becomes a full recharge, allowing them to be used instantly again — including (assuming [[Arts Chain]] or equivalent has been acquired) being able to cancel the Art into itself. ({{gp|Mythra|XC2}}'s {{XC2|Lightspeed Flurry}} also has this effect.) If this can be done consistently, it makes Arts recharge pouch items redundant while allowing for extremely fast Special gauge buildup. For these setups, a good effect to focus on is Special damage (from [[Literature]] and [[Script]]s) to maximise damage output.<br/> However, crit recharge can seldom be relied upon to work all the time (the exceptions being if {{gp|Pneuma}} or {{gp|Fiora|XC2}} are being used). If the player's crit rate is below 100%, it is advisable to keep a lower level of Arts recharge active from Pouch Items (around 0.3-0.7 per second, depending on crit rate, is a reasonable amount) to recharge the Driver's other Arts for use when the crit recharge fails and to only partially focus on Special damage (and/or other effects). All Driver Arts are fully recharged upon a Blade Switch (in the ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' main game) or Vanguard Switch (in ''Torna ~ The Golden Country''). A strategy which makes constant use of this may not need to use Pouch Items to recharge Arts, especially if only one or two Arts will be used between switches. An example of such a strategy is [[Driver Combo locking]], in which the player constantly cycles between different characters in order to use [[Driver Combo]] Driver Arts and/or Switch Arts. Here, only one Art is necessary to use between switches, and so such an Art will necessarily be off cooldown when it is needed. This makes Arts Recharge unnecessary.<br/> Which Pouch Item effects to focus on in Arts Recharge's place vary depending upon specifics. However, as such strategies necessarily require managing the {{XC2|Affinity}} of two or three [[Blades]] as opposed to only focusing on one, Affinity-increasing effects (primarily from [[Art]], [[Cosmetic]]s, and [[Fragrance]]s) may be useful. Such strategies are also often used in {{b|Bringer of Chaos|difficulty}} difficulty in combination with damage over time from [[Blade Combo]]s; in these cases, {{XC2|Party Gauge}} gain is very worthwhile to focus on. On the other hand, while a Special is necessary to begin the damage-over-time effect, it is only this Special that leads to the bulk of the damage throughout the fight; therefore, Special-damage-increasing Pouch Items are useful on the character that performs the Special in question, but may be forgone on everyone else.
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