Despotic Arsene

The Despotic Arsene is one of the five Superbosses in Xenoblade Chronicles. It is a member of the Bunnia family, and can be found at level 108 north of the Glowing Obelisk landmark in Satorl Marsh. As with most of the other Superbosses, the Despotic Arsene appears after finishing all story events in Mechonis Core. It is surrounded by weaker Bunnias, which are only level 20.

Stats

HP	Attack Power	Ether Power	Agility	Double Attack Rate	Critical Hit Rate	Physical Damage Resistance %	Ether Damage Resistance %	Orientation of Resistance
421,100	1800	1200	120	20	0	0	20	All Directions

Break	◇	Lock-On	△	Physical Defense↓	△	Agility↓	△
Topple	▲	Bind	△	Ether Defense↓	△	Aura Seal	△
Daze	×	Paralysis	△	Attack Power↓	△	Arts Seal	△
Sleep	△	Slow	△	Ether Power↓	△	Death	×

Legend: △ = 70% resistance; ▲ = 100% resistance unless certain conditions are met; ◇ = 70% resistance, but no resistance during chain attack; ◆ = 100% resistance, but no resistance during chain attack; ○ = no resistance; × = immune

Arts

Arts	Attribute	Strength Multiplier	# Hits	Range	Effect	Knockback	Blowdown/Daze
Emperor Blow	Physical	2.0 to 2.4	1	Single	Attack Power↓	-	-
Imperial Sobat	Physical	2.8 to 3.3	1	Frontal Arc	Bleed	Yes	-
Imperial Upper	Physical	2.75 to 3.25	1	Single	-	-	Yes/No
Emperor Combo X	Talent (Physical)	2.1 to 2.5	2	Single	-	-	Yes/Yes
Imperial Might	Status	-	-	Self	Haste	-	-

※1 Arsene will activate its awakening aura when its health is less than 30% of its total HP
※2 Arsene's topple duration is cut by half (1.5 seconds)

Tips

Arsene's agility is 120. However, when accounting for the hit-rate penalty, its relative agility is 320. For physical attackers, it is helpful to boost their hit rate by: 1) equipping agility up, agility down, and/or night vision gems 2) have Melia in the party and keep at least 2 wind buffs active 3) link skills related to agility 4) use Dunban's Serene Heart
When a vision appears, all of Arsene's attacks can be avoided by running away due to its short attack range.
The battle can be exploited by kiting. Control a character that can easily aggro the target. Then simply run around the large rock while the other battle members attack the target. See video below to see how this is done.
Emperor Combo X can be defended by using Monado Shield LV10 (Shulk). Reyn generally requires at least 9001 HP to successfully defend against the talent art with his Last Stand in the case where Arsene's maximum multiplier is applied. Running away can also cancel Arsene's attacks after a vision occurs. Putting Arsene to sleep can sometimes work, but it very often resists sleep.
Use well-executed chain attacks to quickly kill Arsene.

Drops

Chests

Wood	0%
Silver	0%
Gold	100%

Wood chests will contain 1 or 2 items from the "Wood" table.
Silver chests will contain 2 items from the "Silver" table and the rarer item from the "Wood" table.
Gold chests will contain 2 items from the "Gold" table, and 1 from both the "Silver" and "Wood" tables.

In Future Connected, the enemy drops system is slightly different from in the Main Game:
Wood chest will contain 1 or 2 different items from the "Wood" table.
Silver chest will contain 1 item from the "Silver" table and the rarer item from the "Wood" table.
Gold chest will contain 1 item from each of the "Gold", "Silver" and "Wood" tables.

Wood

Materials
Bunnia Scent Wood	69%
Veritas Glyph	31%

Silver

Note: This enemy does not drop weapons or armour in silver chests.

Gold

Note: This enemy does not drop non-unique weapons in gold chests.

Unique Weapons
Bonus Driver		16.8%
Bonus Sniper		2.5%
Chaos Break		1.7%
Unique Armours
Glory Gauntlets		14.4%
Glory Boots		14.1%
Glory Gear		13.4%
Glory Leggings		7.7%
Glory Armour		3.1%
Advanced Art Books
Burninate		12%
Slit Edge		8.1%
Demon Slayer		4.3%
Gale Slash		2%

Videos

Arsene Battle - LV52 PT (Melia, Shulk, Dunban) - "Kiting" Exploit
Arsene Battle- 43 second kill, level 61 party members
Engaging Arsene