Xenoblade Chronicles has had class systems in the past. However, players have never been able to choose and customize their loadouts like in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It’s one of the reasons why it has received so much praise from both longtime and new fans. Will it be nominated as the best RPG of 2022? Chances are it will indeed be in the discussions at the end of the year at the very least.
Now, classes are divided into three categories in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: attack, defense, and healing. While it may sound boring to master a defense class, all choices in the game are more than just glorified shields. They pack a punch from main characters like Lanz to recruitable guest characters like Ashera. There are only five in total, making them a rare and valuable class type. Let’s decide which is the best defensive type class in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
There will be some spoilers.
5 Zeon
Zeon can be unlocked about a third of the way through Xenoblade Chronicles 3. However, he can be difficult to get when his quest is unlocked if players aren’t prepared for his ambush. Zeon is the new leader of Noah’s old colony, and Noah, Eunie, and Lanz all have history with him. Lanz, especially, does not like Zeon at all. After their reunion, wherein players have to defeat Zeon, Noah decides to accompany him back to base to aid in an impending attack from the opposing forces. Eventually, Zeon sees that the Consul presiding over his colony was lying to them about Ouroboros the entire time.
Zeon is a great addition to the team as a sword and shield user. While his class doesn’t have as high defense as Lanz’s, Zeno's is slightly stronger and has better agility too. It’s always good to have a balance in an RPG.
4 Monica
Monica is another sword and shield user who can be acquired around the same time as Zeon. However, her sword looks more like a club and her shield is long like a tower. Her defensive capabilities are higher than Zeon’s class but still lower than Lanz’s. The thing she has above both of them is HP, which is rather critical in an RPG without many ways to heal.
Her HP is huge compared to almost every other class in the game and that includes the main cast. Monica is the daughter of Guernica, the eye-patched man that brings Noah’s and Mio’s groups together with the Ouroboros stones. Monica is the leader of the free humans in a colony known only as the City. She’s an important character in the story besides being one of the very small defensive heroes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
3 Ashera
Oddly, Ashera is a defense-type hero in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Her weapon is a dual-ended sword that looks like a lightsaber akin to Darth Maul’s from the Star Wars series. Ashera is the leader of her colony, one that used to be silver rank until the Consuls started playing games with them. Now, Ashera has been kicked out of her position, leading to her joining Noah and the others on their mission.
She also has a death wish. It’s not that Ashera wants to die, it’s more like she wants to die notably in combat for a good cause. That might be why she is in a defense-based class. It’s a commentary on the story to show that Ashera will jump in front of a bullet to save a friend. As cool as attack abilities are, there are some awe-inspiring defensive stances too such as the one where players twirl the blades around fast enough to create a counter barrier.
2 Lanz
Lanz is a giant hulk of a man. His huge blade serves as both a weapon and a shield. Using it to block will create a barrier, presumably out of Ether. The blade has another power in that the hilt can transform into a turret wherein Lanz covers his allies as they rush behind him.
This power is reserved primarily for cutscenes, which is unfortunate for the combat side of this RPG. There are a lot of inconsistencies between the cutscenes and combat in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 that don’t make sense. Overall, Lanz, and this class, are slow, but the defensive stats are indeed high and there is a mighty power behind these blows too.
1 Mio
There is one other power that sets Lanz, and also Mio, above other characters and classes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. They can transform into mech-like forms via their Ouroboros alliance. That’s why they rank so much higher than everyone else, especially in the defense force. Mio combines with Noah while Lanz partners with Sena.
Like Ashera, Mio is another defensive hero that may seem like she does not fit the role. Her two weapons are chakrams which are more offensive in nature. She does have some defensive buffs to cast for the party, but speed is her biggest trait. As a character overall, Mio has one of the most compelling arcs in the game.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released on July 29, 2022 and is available on Switch.