Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a lot of quality of life improvements over many games in this immediate series and the Xeno brand overall. The main party consists of six core members that will always participate in battles. Eventually, a seventh slot will open up. This is the guest slot and most guests can be swapped at any time in the menu.
There are some story exceptions but overall Xenoblade Chronicles 3 allows players to use seven characters in combat which is huge. It’s almost like commanding a small MMO squadron into battle. Of the many guests in the game, who are the best in terms of combat use and personality? There will be story spoilers for the game ahead.
19 Ethel
Ethel is a legendary character in the game’s narrative as she belongs to a silver-ranked colony. She is the first sub-character that can be unlocked but after acquiring her, she will disappear quickly. There is a way to sort of get her back later but it’s very deep into the game and it's not the way players may think. This makes her hard to put higher on the list since she is absent for most of it. She’s cool in the context of the story but not so much as a sub-character.
18 Segiri
Segiri can first be encountered in the arc wherein Noah and the others have to gather food in the forest on their way to the Keves headquarters. She will appear in her mech suit, prompting a quick battle before she retreats without a word said. To fully unlock her players have to do a ton of other side quests for Colony 4. Segiri is a tedious side character to unlock but she will be the only one in the group piloting a true mech, thus making her a godlike attack class. Unfortunately, she’s doesn’t have an energetic personality to vibe with.
17 Juniper
Juniper is a great guest character to unlock as she is one of the few ranged characters Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Any good RPG balances out a party with both ranged and up-close classes. Taion is the only character with a decent ranged until Juniper shows up and shows her skills with a bow. She’s not an attack-type class and is instead more like a supportive one. She can boost allies with ranged area effects which is critical for boss fights.
16 Zeon
Zeon is an old friend of Noah’s company who resided in the same colony. If players try to return to it after the initial setup, Zeon will block the way along with a new troop. He has become the new leader of the colony and is loyal to Keves and his Consul so much so that he doesn’t trust Noah anymore. His sword and shield combo is better than Riku and Manana’s and his recruitment quest is a good side story.
15 Miyabi
Miyabi is talked about quite a bit in the main narrative via Mio. It seems like she died long ago, which is technically true. However, Moebius and the Consuls revived her to play her flute like some sort of evil puppeteer and also revived several other familiar faces. It’ll be hard to fight back some tears by the end of this quest line. Her class is healing based but she’s not a bad fighter as well.
14 Riku
Riku is with the party as soon as the team forms along with Manana. He doesn’t become a guest character until ten-plus hours into the game though. This is odd considering he, and Manana, are always around.
If anything the two of them should be the permanent seventh character with an eighth opening up for true guest characters. Semantics aside, these Nopon are not the typical comic relief characters like in other games in the series with their decent sword and shield combo class.
13 Valdi
Valdi is one of the better healers in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It doesn’t make sense how he can heal as he uses a giant rivet-like gun as a weapon. Valdi is an inventor so if anyone can figure out how to combine healing and attack skills, it’s him. He’s the first permanent guest character players will unlock after Ethel. Even though his side quest story is short, it’s one of the more memorable ones involving robots, another battle with a Consul, and a few tugs at the old heartstrings.
12 Melia
Melia is the Queen of Keves and also a character from the first game in the series. Her class is like a Summoner in the Final Fantasy series although she uses powerful magic without the aid of giant monsters in battle which is less cool. She’s a powerful ally in battle and her class has good stats for whoever equips it. However, as a character in the game’s story, she is a bit sleepy.
11 Monica
Monica is the daughter of Guernica and she is also the leader of the City. She joins the team as part of the story. After players finish the first arc for the City, players can easily recruit Monica by going back into her office. She’s another sword and shield user like the previous characters before her. She’s a defense-type class and has a huge amount of HP which is great for boss battles, making her the best sword and shield user in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
10 Fiona
Fiona has a similar healing class to Eunie’s. She uses a spear with a flag attached to it as her weapon, making her like a banner maiden or like a bard in other RPGs. She twirls her flag to heal and grant buffs to the entire party, making her an excellent addition to the team. Her quest is also one of the saddest in the game, pitting friend against friend with some surprising twists.
9 Alexandria
Alexandria is one of the tougher side characters to recruit. Players will be ambushed by her squad in the desert before Noah and the others eventually retreat. They can immediately follow Alexandria back to her colony to recruit her with a boss battle. Doing so right away will be tricky with her four supporting teammates. However, players can eliminate her squad one by one around the area through mini objectives thus making the boss battle easier. Alexandria is a tough cookie but her skills are worth acquiring.
8 Nia
Nia is the Queen of Agnes and the first Queen Noah and the others will awaken. She is also a character from the last game. How she became the queen of anything is a mystery but what matters most is her power.
She starts as a bit sleepy like Melia but her fiery spirit that thrived in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 eventually awakens. She may be a healing class but Nia can kick a lot of butt with her assortment of energy blades too. It’s sad that her and Melia are post-game characters though.
7 Teach
Teach was the head of Mio’s company before they became part of Ouroboros. On his quest, he lures the group in with open arms until he reveals his true intentions on a supposed nature hike. Thankfully, Teach sees the error of his ways and joins Mio’s new squad to stop his colony’s Consul and Morbius overall. Teach is a healer that wields a cool rod with energy flames coming out of both ends.
6 Isurd
It makes sense that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 would want to showcase Taion as he goes from an analytical naysayer to someone that truly cares for his friends. One of his best anime-like arcs involves facing off against his former commander, Isurd. It turns out that version of him was made of mud but he gets to rekindle the old flame with the real Isurd and even unlocks him as any ally. His class is similar to Taion with an emphasis on healing and support skills but he can hold his own in battle as well.
5 Cammuravi
Cammuravi is an awesome character and is the flip side to Ethel. The two of them are rivals who meet their end in the game at the same time. After this he is resurrected via the Consul’s evil plot. He’s not quite the same as before but he still has an undying warrior spirit. His flame spear is a great weapon and the overall class is a strong one too.
4 Triton
Triton is a fun character to recruit and a surprising one. He’s a Consul but he doesn’t engage in underhanded espionage like the rest. Players have to beat him in a series of contests before they fight him in a boss battle to get him to join. It should be mentioned that he is a pirate complete with a swarthy accent. His class is like the Blue Mages in the Final Fantasy series in that he can learn powers from monsters.
3 Ashera
Ashera, or Ashera the Undying Blade, joins the party when they are about to invade the Keves’ castle. She belongs to a silver rank colony that is well-known and respected on both sides of the war. Ashera and her unit live to fight and not necessarily to serve their Keves overlords. Eunie is not happy with Ashera’s attitude toward life and death, bringing some interesting discussion points to this massive RPG. She wields a double-bladed sword that might as well be a lightsaber based on the power and look.
2 Gray
Gray is theXenoblade Chronicles 3 equivalent to Vincent from Final Fantasy 7. He wears a mask over his face, doesn’t speak much, has a cape, and uses guns for weapons. His class is one of the few ranged ones in the game which is good for a number of reasons. His backstory and quest lines are short but he is worth finding all the same. There’s something so alluring about a mysterious like him.
1 Ghondor
Ghondor is not just a good guest character in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. She’s one of the best in the game overall as a young girl with an attitude. Like Sena, Ghondor’s body is holding many secrets within as she can destroy boulders easily with her technology-infused boxing gloves. She’s a great attack-type class that will have any enemy begging for mercy. If Nintendo ever revives their fighting game experiment, ARMs, she could be a fun guest character.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released on July 29, 2022 and is available on Switch.