Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - How to beat Consul W

Future Redeemed's first big boss fight might seem tricky at first glance

Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s big story DLC, Future Redeemed, is finally out, bringing with it hours of new story and gameplay to explore. Naturally, with every new Xenoblade game comes boss fights, and Future Redeemed’s first big boss, Consul W, can be tough to take down if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Luckily, we’ve put together this guide to help you take down the big boss, and everything else you need to know about beating Consul W.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - When do you fight Consul W?

Future Redeemed’s first big boss fight against Consul W takes place about two hours into the game. Prior to this, you’ll be walked through a lot of tutorials, explore a couple areas, and pick up a few different characters on your way.

You’ll know you’re not far from the fight when you start playing as Glimmer, as it’s only about 10 minutes later, after some very exciting cutscenes, that you’ll find yourself in the fight. Note that there are a few more minor boss fights before you get to Consul W, much earlier in the game, but most of these are pretty straightforward and shouldn’t cause too much trouble.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - How to beat Consul W

At first glance, Consul W might seem near-invincible, as your attacks do very little damage. It may even seem like you’re fighting a story fight that you’re supposed to lose, as happens with Glimmer mere moments before this fight. Consul W is beatable though, it just requires one key bit of information: it’s not one boss, it’s three.

Look, that might seem very obvious, but when you start the fight you automatically lock onto the Consul himself, and there’s no real indication that you can attack anything else. Simply press the R button and you’ll find the Kevesian and Agnian Ferronises are also targetable, and that’s where you’ll need to direct your attacks if you want to get anywhere.

The Ferronises aren’t particularly difficult to defeat, but it could take quite a while as they have big health pools and pretty high defenses. Piercing attacks are a good way to go for this, as they bypass the defense value to deal big damage.

It’s also worth noting that some attacks, for whatever reason, will switch you back over to targeting the Consul. The first few times this happened, I thought I had defeated the Ferronis, moving onto another target before realizing my mistake.

Once you’ve taken down both Ferronises, you’ll need to move onto attacking the Consul. You may find that your attacks are doing more, but still not a lot, and that’s a good sign you need to switch up your strategy. The best way to take down the Consul is through chain attacks and union attacks, both of which deal huge chunks of damage at a time. The positioning means that some union attacks aren’t quite optimal, but you’ll have a full team of six in this fight, so be sure to experiment with your new, familiar allies.