Overdrive (XC2)

:Additionally, see Overdrive Protocol for the effects of "Use Overdrive" in the "Manage Blades" menu.
Overdrive is one of 's Battle Skills in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
==Mechanics==
===Activation and reactivation===
Overdrive can be activated when Elma is one of the active party's Blades by pressing R and -. This requires the to be full, and consumes it. If Elma is a Blade of the player-controlled Driver, she must be the active Blade to initiate Overdrive. If she is equipped to a non-player-controlled Driver, they will switch to her as soon as possible to initiate Overdrive.
Elma can be switched off of while Overdrive is active. It is possible to reactivate Overdrive using the same command while it is still active, again consuming a full Party Gauge; this adds approximately 45 seconds to its duration when the Battle Skill is at maximum level. Unlike with its initial activation, Elma need not be active to continue Overdrive.
===Beneficial effects===
Overdrive's beneficial effects are determined by its "count": a counter that increases as Overdrive continues. The count starts at 0; it increases by 1 for each hit of any Driver Art on any enemy, and by 5 for each hit of any on any enemy. This counts attacks which hit multiple targets; for example, if is used when there are two enemies in the fight (and all hits land on both enemies), the count will increase by 160 (5 per hit, times 16 hits, times 2 enemies due to Violent Streak hitting both enemies). It also counts "hitframes" that do not deal damage; for example, 's teleportation frames also increase the count, so this attack increases count by 65 per enemy (5 count times 13 "hits") despite only actually dealing damage 6 times. The count can increase to a maximum of 999.
Overdrive provides the following effects:
* All party members receive an damage bonus, equal to (25 + 0.475 * count)%: +25% at zero count, +500% at max. (The damage is displayed as a multiplier, starting at "x125%", but it is not multiplicative; the displayed multiplier may be incorrect if other additive sources of damage exist. It should be read as an additive contribution to damage of the displayed value minus 100%.)
* The recharge rate for all party members is multiplied by (150 + 0.15 * count)% (150% at zero count, 300% at max).
* The infliction rate of party member s on enemies is increased by a flat (20 + 0.05 * count)% (20% at zero count, 70% at max).
===Other effects===
During Overdrive, s cannot be initiated. Overdrive cannot be initiated during the animation for a Driver Art or Special.
Visually, Overdrive is represented by a gear symbol below the centre of the screen, displaying the count (or "MAX" if it is at 999). The music track Wir fliegen plays for the duration (the loop is the same as that which plays in-game in Xenoblade Chronicles X, omitting the "Wir schlagen den Himmel wie ein Mattglas ein" section.)
When Overdrive finishes (due to it expiring or combat concluding), the total damage dealt by the player-controlled Driver and by the party are displayed. This is bugged to not always display the correct amount of damage; it is suspected that it does not take into account damage over time when applied by -controlled party members.
==Strategy==
Overdrive is to be considered an alternative to s, as the two are mutually exclusive and both provide means of dealing great damage. Its main use case is in and harder custom difficulties, due to the Chain Attack bug making Chain Attacks very weak in these situations.
Overdrive is extremely strong in conjunction with Driver Combo locking strategies: the resistance reduction makes it much easier to consistently inflict , the repeated Driver Combos quickly fill up the for Overdrive reactivation, and the increased damage and recharge rate makes the damage-per-second of repeatedly using Driver Arts very high. With good setup and execution, it is even possible to outstrip the damage offered by a damage-over-time Blade Combo which damage caps every tick. This is the most effective way to speedkill high-HP opponents in Bringer of Chaos, especially in .
As the bonuses scale with Overdrive count, it is recommended to use fast s with high hit counts early on to raise the count as quickly as possible, even if the Specials do not continue a Blade Combo. If multiple enemies are in the fight, using Specials with an area of effect is extremely effective, as the count increases for each hit on each enemy. is an excellent option, possessing the maximum hit count of 16 and an area of effect (and it will necessarily be available if Overdrive is being used). When the hit count is high, using Driver Arts quickly may result in faster damage due to animation speed and damage cap limitations. Using Arts quickly can be done with crit recharging effects such as , but the cooldown reduction enables other Arts to be used for this too. For example, once the count reaches around 170, it is possible to a max-level Pulverizing Dunk into itself when using sufficient Arts recharge effects from Pouch Items (mainly Desserts).
It is much more desirable to reactivate Overdrive while it is still active than to wait for it to expire, because only the former prevents the count from resetting.
Due to the requirement of using the Party Gauge, it is recommended to use Party Gauge-increasing Pouch Items (chiefly Drinks) when using Overdrive, especially on harder difficulty settings. As Overdrive gives a high damage bonus, other sources of additive damage increase are often proportionally weaker than independent damage increases when using Overdrive, such as bonuses to critical hit damage.
==Affinity Chart==
==In other languages==
==Gallery==
===Tutorials===
Overdrive Tutorial (XC2) 1.jpg|Overdrive Tutorial, part 1
Overdrive Tutorial (XC2) 2.jpg|Overdrive Tutorial, part 2
Overdrive Tutorial (XC2) 3.jpg|Overdrive Tutorial, part 3
Overdrive Tutorial (XC2) 4.jpg|Overdrive Tutorial, part 4
Overdrive Tutorial (XC2) 5.jpg|Overdrive Tutorial, part 5
===Screenshots===
Overdrive Engaged (XC2).jpg|Engaging Overdrive
Overdrive in combat (XC2).jpg|Overdrive during combat
Overdrive Result screen (XC2).jpg|The result screen