Topple (XC2)

Topple is a in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. A character inflicted with Topple cannot attack, evade, or move, and they take 25% additional which stacks additively with extra damage from Fusion Combos. Flying enemies inflicted with Topple fall to the ground, or to the death barrier if there is no ground beneath them. Toppling an enemy causes a medium HP Potion to spawn.
Topple is the second stage of the Driver Combo; all Topple-inducing player attacks require to be inflicted first, and all -inducing player attacks require Topple to be inflicted first. This does not always apply to enemies, as many enemy arts can "force" a later combo stage without needing the previous one. Enemies may also have arts that apply a durationless Topple to themselves for the art's duration, which may be the only way to Launch a foe that is otherwise immune to Break or Topple.
The player can reduce the duration of Topple inflicted on the player-controlled character by button mashing.
Topple, like the other reactions, is not guaranteed to be inflicted. The chance of a Topple occurring is given by the reaction infliction formula.
==List of arts that can inflict Topple==
===By party members===
====Xenoblade Chronicles 2====
====Torna ~ The Golden Country====
===By enemies===
====Enemy arts that topple the target====
====Enemy arts that topple the user====
==Strategy==
A toppled enemy puts the party in a great position. Temporarily preventing the enemy from attacking is very useful by itself; the prevention of enemy dodging, HP potion, Party Gauge gain, and extra damage range from situationally useful to excellent side effects. It is almost always worth applying Topple whenever Break is inflicted (the only exceptions being in specific Fusion Combo setups; see below).
Unlike Break, it is rare for enemies to strongly resist Topple. As such, while having a consistent Toppler in the party is important, it is not necessary to have multiple, as it often is with Break. with and with Spinning Elbow are the most consistent Topple-inflictors on the ; if the player is controlling Rex, then Anchor Shot will be both present and sufficient for almost any situation.
When inflicting Fusion Combos for damage, Topple provides three benefits. The first is that it is a higher stage of the Driver Combo than Break, so its Fusion Combo bonuses are accordingly greater (although both Break and Topple provide the same Fusion Combo damage bonus on a stage 1 or 3 Blade Combo, all else being equal). The second is that it itself gives a damage bonus of +25%. Finally, its duration can be extended substantially, either by pausing the timer with a level /stage 3 Blade Combo or by slowing the timer with a . This latter property sets it apart from and , which cannot be extended in this way.
The disadvantage of Topple over Break for Fusion Combos is that its duration is shorter. It is still certainly long enough to double-stack a Fusion Combo, and with deliberate setup it is even possible to triple-stack, but there is generally far less time left over to Fusion-boost a Chain Attack's damage before the Topple expires in comparison to a Break. The disadvantage over Launch is that both its Driver Combo and Fusion Combo damage bonuses are weaker, so double-stacking is necessary to make Topple worth it over Launch. In both cases, timing is the key limitation; one is in general far more limited by the whims of the AI and their timing of Driver Arts.
When this timing difficulty can be controlled, and when Chain Attacks are not ideal, stacking Fusion Combos on Topple is better than on Break due to the greater damage bonuses: a Topple -> stage 2 Blade Combo -> stage 3 Blade Combo provides +175% damage on the finisher, whereas the same stack on a Break only provides +125%. With strong Blades, the former is enough to kill many story bosses from well over half , especially when combined with Topple-damage-increasing effects such as 's The Preternatural.
In highly optimised postgame play, and in particular for speedrunning, the benefits of stacking Fusion Combos become outweighed by the drawbacks of the additional time this takes, especially because other options may themselves reach the damage cap with less time taken. In these situations, performing a single Blade Combo stage with damage over time often becomes more effective, and there are certain setups where it is optimal to do so on a Topple. For example, may be desired during the Blade Combo for her Battle Wisdom, and setup constraints may require her to be used on ; in this case, one can ensure that she will be active immediately after a Topple inflicted with Hammer Lariat.
In more casual play, exploiting Fusion Combos with Topple can be incredibly beneficial with minimal effort and technical skill. During the 2nd stage of a Blade Combo, even if the player can advance it to 3rd stage, it may be beneficial to wait for a Topple first. This will result in the finisher having double damage (+25% from the Topple plus +75% from the stage 5 Fusion Combo) — a very strong increase to an already-powerful attack, with additional Party Gauge benefits. This comes at the cost of allowing more time for something to go wrong; whether it is indeed worth the risk is situation-dependent.
's Senton Battle Skill increases damage dealt to toppled enemies and, more importantly, extends the duration of the currently inflicted topple for each hits. This, coupled with level Specials pausing the timer results in the enemy being toppled for a much longer time, reminiscent of the first game's topple locking.
==In other languages==
==Gallery==
Toppled enemy (XC2).jpg|A Feris is toppled