Warning: There are major spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ahead.
As you play through Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s campaign, take on specific hero and side quests, gather information at colonies and explore the enormous world of Aionios, you’ll discover and unlock a bunch of brand new heroes to aid you in your Ouroboros journey.
In this guide we’ll detail how to unlock every hero and class in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, plus how to upgrade them.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Heroes And Classes Unlock Guide
Non-playable heroes are a big part of XC3. Once unlocked, they can be freely switched in and out of your party to suit your needs and help bolster your six core protagonists as a seventh member of the team. Each hero brings with them a brand new class complete with all-new moves, buffs and specials that can be equipped to any of your party of fighters once you’ve unlocked the right to use them.
Some of the hero classes you’ll unlock are straightforward fighter/healer/defender types, but some are also more interesting hybrids of the game’s three core roles, so you’ll get the benefits of a healer and fighter combined, for example, giving you more flexibility in your set-up as you head into battle. They are, in short, essential to your success, especially against some of the bigger bosses and legendary foes you’ll face out in the field during your epic adventure.
So, with all of this in mind, let’s take a look at every available hero there is to find and unlock in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and how to access their classes with all of your fighters. Where necessary we’ve gone ahead and detailed where you need to go in order to kickstart a hero quest as plenty of these extra warriors don’t just show up during the course of the campaign, you’re gonna have to get out there and hunt quite a few of them down.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – How To Unlock Access To Hero Classes
When you first recruit a hero character to your party, one of your six playable protagonists will be assigned as that hero’s Class Inheritor. In the case of Ethel, for example, who is the first hero you’ll unlock, Noah is set as her Class Inheritor, meaning he can immediately switch to her Flash Fencer class without having to earn the right.
For all other characters in your party, you’ll need to unlock access to the Flash Fencer class by having Ethel or Noah in your squad as you fight. In order to see how close a given character is to unlocking access to a class, jump into the Characters > Class menu screen and you’ll see icons for each hero class you currently own slowly filling up as you fight. Fill a hero icon and that class will become available to the fighter in question. Simple!
As the game suggests, it’s best to concentrate on opening up as many classes to as many of your party as you can then getting to work ranking them up, as having all classes available to every team member hugely increases your options in tough battles. Some of these hero classes, such as the War Medic, really are game-changers early on, giving you hugely improved healing capabilities that will see you through encounters you may struggle with otherwise.
In order to speed up the ranking process you can also use Nopon Coins, found in golden containers throughout the world, to rank classes up quickly, rather than counting on CP (class points) earned in battle.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – All Heroes & Classes
Ethel – Attacker – Flash Fencer
How to unlock: Ethel will unlock early in the game as part of the main campaign (chapter 3). Ethel will leave your group after a short time, but you can recruit her again later on in the story, once you’ve recruited Cammuravi, by having him in your group and heading to Colony Omega.
Class Details: Ethel’s Flash Fencer class is a nimble attacking choice. Make sure to use her buff arts to power up before deploying your main attacks and then activate her talent art once you’ve charged it in order to raise her overall attack power. You’ll need to make sure to position yourself correctly for attacks to the side and rear of foes to ensure you keep filling up that talent art gauge as quickly as possible here, but it pays off with a class that can do big damage in quick time when handled properly.
Artificer Valdi – Healer – War Medic
How To Unlock: You’ll unlock Valdi as part of the main storyline (chapter 3).
Class Details: Valdi is a War Medic, a class that immediately provides a huge boost to your healing abilities early on in the campaign. Once you’ve unlocked this class you’ll likely find you always have at least one on your roster as their AOE heals can absolutely save a party that’s taking a beating.
Dutiful Zeon – Defender – Guardian Commander
How To Unlock: First off, liberate Colony 30 and complete the story events there, then head off to colony 9 and complete the quest “Where The Heart Is”.
Class Details: An excellent choice when you need extra protection from big attacks, the Guardian Commander class can come to the rescue of teammates who are on their last legs. This class has got high defence stats and the ability to absorb the force of enemy attacks in order to fill up a talent art gauge and unleash their own super-charged ripostes.
Inscrutable Teach – Healer – Thaumaturge
How To Unlock: You’ll unlock Teach by liberating Colony Gamma and then completing the quest “Going Beyond Power”. You can find this quest by heading out to the Alfeto Valley area, north of the Gura Flava Camp rest spot and finding the quest marker there.
Class Details: The Thaumaturge is a hybrid of both healer and fighter that can adapt to a variety of battle situations and also has talent art that provides an armour veil to protect teammates.
Peerless Riku & Manana – Attacker – Yumsmith
How To Unlock: During the campaign (chapter 3) you’ll complete the quest “A Nopon’s Counsel” as part of the main story to unlock access to Riku and Manana.
Class Details: The Yumsmith class combines both offense and AOE support arts, resulting in a good all-round choice. This is a good class for dealing with multiple foes at once.
Ashenpelt Gray – Attacker – Full Metal Jaguar
How To Unlock: To unlock Gray you’ll need to find the “?” quest marker on your map in the Aetia Region, just slightly north-east of the Kamos Outpost landmark in Millick Meadows. This will spark off a short quest that results in the mysterious hero being added to your roster.
Class Details: Full Metal Jaguar is bound to be a popular choice with players, it just sounds too cool not to experiment with! This attacking subclass works around taking shots at foes that grow stronger and deadlier with each successive hit. Time your arts to coincide with enemy attacks and you’ll find yourself pumping out some big damage here.
Dawnhero Isurd – Healer – Strategos
How To Unlock: Liberate Colony Lambda in chapter 4 to unlock access to Isurd. Once the colony has been freed, you’ll find a quest in his office that triggers his recruitment.
Class Details: The Strategos combines the ability to provide healing support whilst also weakening enemies with a variety of debuffs. This is a clever class that can really change the flow of a tough battle.
Ghostbow Juniper – Attacker – Stalker
How To Unlock: Unlocks as part of the main campaign during the events that lead to the liberation of Colony Tau.
Class Details: The Stalker class may deal low damage but it excels at managing aggro. Juniper’s attacks can deal bleed to increase the effectiveness of her bow shots, attacks grow stronger when enemies have less than 30% life and this class also imbues you with vastly reduced aggro and increased agility to dodge incoming ranged shots from your enemies.
Undying Blade Ashera – Defender – Lone Exile
How To Unlock: To unlock Ashera you’ll need to look for a “?” quest marker that’s located just outside the gates of Colony 11. This will activate the quest, “Wrath of Ashera”.
Class Details: The Lone Exile is a defensive class that excels at counterattacking and draws a lot of attention and aggro, taking the heat off weaker teammates as you soak up damage. Exiles with automatically attack enemies on behalf of nearby allies who are taking damage.
Craftmaiden Alexandria – Attacker – Incursor
How To Unlock: Liberate Colony Iota to unlock access to Alexandria. However! It’s not quite as straightforward as usual here. The first time you meet Alexandria a cutscene will play out in the Fornis Region, (at the Dies Arch landmark). Once this has occurred you’ll need to take out 4 squads of Agnian soldiers who’ve been added to your map as ? markers.
Once you’ve done all of this, you’ll get info to discuss at a rest spot that will mark Colony Iota on your map. Head there and take on the quest “Her Reasons” to finally add Alexandria to the team. We should also note here that you can apparently just wander towards Colony Iota, if you’re levelled up enough to defeat the enemies within, take on the quest and then fight a tougher battle – because you haven’t dealt with the 4 squads of Agnian troops – to add her.
Class Details: The Incursor’s damage output increases with every critical hit that successfully lands on an enemy.
City’s Bulwark Monica – Defender – Lost Vanguard
How To Unlock: Complete the hero quest “Vandham’s Heir” to unlock Monica. You’ll unlock this quest by discussing the info “Guernica Vandham” which you’ll gather by checking out rumours in the City area.
Class Details: The Lost Vanguard deploys protective fields to help out allies in need and specializes in countering enemy attacks. Vanguards can also dish out damage whilst guarding.
Proudbanner Fiona – Healer – Signifier
How To Unlock: Complete the hero quest “Transparent Dreams” to unlock Fiona. This quest can be activated by heading to the Candensia Region, specifically the Conchrock Beach landmark, where you’ll find a golden “?” quest marker that sets Fiona’s narrative in motion.
Class Details: The Signifier is a special healing subclass that not only provides healing, but also applies all manner of random buffs to your party whilst strengthening your attack abilities with a mix of supportive arts.
Defiant Triton – Attacker – Soulhacker
How To Unlock: You’ll need to head to the Candensia Region and find the golden “?” quest marker that kicks off the Colony 15 liberation quest to unlock Defiant Triton. In order to do this, head for Hargan Point Camp in the Eryth Sea, this will trigger a series of events that leads you to Colony 15 and the quest “Doing It My Way”.
Class Details: One of the most interesting and experimental classes in the game, the Soulhacker acquires arts and skills from defeated unique monsters, so you’ll need to get out there and defeat some big bads all over the world in order to max out the possibilities that this class brings to the table. You can check out all the abilities you’ve unlocked for this class by hopping into a dedicated Soulhack List in the Heroes section of the in-game menus.
Wrathfist Ghondor – Attacker – Martial Artist
How To Unlock: Ghondor will unlock quite far into the story (chapter 5) as you play through the main campaign.
Class Details: An attacking class, the Martial Artist can accelerate their arts recharge speed for quick combo hits and their talent art, once charged, can consume the current charge status of all equipped arts in order to deal extra damage.
Glorysong Miyabi – Healer – Troubadour
How To Unlock: As you progress through the story you’ll unlock “Side Story: Mio”. This quest, which should appear in Chapter 6, will unlock Miyabi.
Class Details: Not only can the Troubadour heal up their allies in battle, they can also speed up the rate at which their arts recharge, allowing for faster attacking combos. Further to this, your talent art fully replenishes the charge for all of your party’s arts. Invaluable in a tight spot.
Smoldering Cammuravi – Attacker – Seraph
How To Unlock: First make sure you complete “Side Story: Mio in chapter 6, then head to Colony Omega where the hero quest “A Twist of Fate” awaits to unlock Cammuravi.
Class Details: The Seraph’s attacks grow strong with each successive hit taken from your foes. This class also utilises self-harming arts in order to increase and maintain high attacks stats. One to experiment with, but straight off the bat the Seraph is just great fun on account of fast and powerful attacks with a great big flaming weapon.
No.7 Segiri
How To Unlock: A long-winded one this. First of all, during chapter 4 you’ll automatically take on the quest “Imminent Illusions”. Once you’ve done this, get busy mopping up quests in Colony 4 and you’ll start taking on a strand of missions regarding mysterious new foes, these include “Tactical Eradication” and “Rousing Bolearis”.
Once you’ve done this, the quest “Severed Connections” will appear outside Colony 4. Get this completed then head off to the city area and take on the “Writer’s Block” quest, which requires quite a lot of collecting of materials around the entire world map. When you finally complete this, head to Colony Omega and you should find the “Inhumanity” quest awaits, which will unlock Segiri. Yeeesh!
Class Details: Segiri unlocks the Machine Assassin class, an attacking class that uses debuffs to weaken foes before going on the offensive. The assassin can enhance their damage output by weakening groups of foes with debuff arts. This class also unlocks the Hazard Neutralisation traversal skill!
Nia, Queen of Agnus – Healer – Lifesage
How To Unlock: Return to The Hall of the Serene once you’ve beaten the game and you’ll find a golden “?” that activates a quest to add Nia to your roster.
Class Details: The strongest healing class in the game with the ability to provide aid for the entire party in one go. The Lifesage can also completely ignore enemy defence stats when unleashing attacks. A real powerhouse!
Melia, Queen of Keves – Attacker – Royal Summoner
How To Unlock: Return to Keves Castle once you’ve beaten the game to find a golden”?” in the first floor area that activates a quest to unlock Melia. The best way to reach this quest marker is to fast travel to the nearby Tap-dancing Nopon bar rest site and then head directly south a short distance.
Class Details: The Royal Summoner is a tough attacking class who can command three different elements through their arts and, by using their talent art, can summon huge elemental attacks that do big damage to foes.
This article is part of our Xenoblade Chronicles walkthrough and guide series. We’ll help you survive your journeys across Aionios with information you’ll need to make the most of the game, such as How To Unlock Traversal Skills (Wall Climbing, Rope Sliding, Scree Walking, Hazard Neutralization), How To Unlock And Upgrade All Heroes And Classes, How To Get Affinity And XP Rewards from Collectopaedia Cards, and How To Unlock The Nopon Coin Xchange.
We’ll also let you know where to find Every Rest Spot Location, All Unique Monster Locations along with locations in the Keves Castle Region, Pentelas Region, and Origin Interior, and Every Ferronis Hulk Location, plus All Meal Recipes, Effects & Where To Find Them, and advice on whether you should play the previous Xenoblade Chronicles games before starting XC3.
And finally, you can check out our review and Where to Buy Xenoblade Chronicles on Nintendo Switch, if for some reason you haven’t yet picked up the game!