A complete Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides

Last Updated on: 13th February 2023, 11:27 am

As a Xenoblade Chronicles fanboy, my insatiable urge to help out people when playing the game has not yet been quenched.

Recently, I made a small guide about some tips to keep in mind when playing the game, and one point was going to be about how to use the playable characters, but it ended up being so long it merited its own article.

If you haven’t checked it out, be sure to do so! That said: enjoy these Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides!

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Shulk: Wielder of the Monado

Shulk is the wielder of the titular Xeno Blade, the Monado, and the protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles. As the main character, he becomes one of the best members of the cast and can perform a wide variety of functions. Early on he serves as primarily a positioning-based high damage character with minor utility in healing as well as protecting teammates from attacks.

By the end of the game, Shulk can do almost anything besides the tank. He has the capability to break, topple, and daze enemies all on his own which allows for breaking almost any fight in the game. The Monado Arts he gains throughout the game allow him a plethora of team-assisting abilities like nullifying Talent Arts, reducing party incoming damage, and destroying enemy buffs.

In my experience, Shulk is best built by maximizing his strength and attack speed through gems like Double Attack and Haste to dish out more pain and have his Monado Arts ready faster. Shulk is a fighter that can fit on nearly any team, and probably should be too.

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Reyn: Got Your Back!

Reyn is Shulk’s best friend and pledged to always have his back through thick and thin. As such, he acts as a damage sponge tank with abilities to keep enemies staring at him and his colossal HP and defense.

Despite this, his offensive capabilities are nothing to sneeze at. Reyn has buffs that lower his defense slightly for an insane attack power boost and has some of the fastest topple and daze arts in the game. Additionally, he has a few area-of-effect attacks to keep all enemies on him and even one of the most devastating attacks in the game, Sword Drive, to dish out some pain.

Reyn is a consistent character from the moment you unlock him to the end of the game, though his damage may be somewhat lackluster without chain attacks. Build him to capitalize on his high natural strength and bulk.

READ MORE: Five Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks for Newcomers

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Sharla: Medic

As Colony 6’s resident medic on the team, Sharla focuses on mitigating and healing damage for the party… Unfortunately, some good planning and skillful use of other party members’ abilities tend to make Sharla feel unnecessary in most encounters. Even in the pretty religious use of Expert Mode in Definitive Edition to make bosses harder, a team focusing on topple locking or timed usage of Monado Arts would usually suffice without a dedicated healer.

This isn’t to say Sharla is awful, she just slows the pace down pretty significantly in fights. Her damage is without question the lowest in the game, but to her credit, she does have a low chance insta-kill as well as a daze art. Additionally, her healing really is nothing to sneeze at. If you find yourself against a particularly difficult boss, she may let you tread the line between victory and defeat!

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Dunban: Hero of the Homs

Dunban is the primary hero of the Battle of Sword Valley and user of the Monado before Shulk. He may be one arm down, but in no way does that affect how well he fights. Like Reyn, Dunban acts as a tank, but instead of sponging damage, Dunban would rather avoid it altogether with high evasion.

Dunban’s arts are pretty varied and useful. He has buffs to his evasion and attack speed, attacks which can break and topple enemies as well as lower their attack, add a bleed effect, or even fill his talent gauge faster. Speaking of, Blossom Dance, his talent art, is one of the most damaging attacks in the game, especially in chain attacks.

Dunban can be built for max evasion prowess through the “Naked Dunban” build, though it severely hampers his defense and gem slots. If that seems too risky, you can equip him with light armor and spec into evasion gems as well as those which increase his aggro generation and attack speed.

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Melia: Princess of Alcamoth

Melia is the first ether-based character the player gets, though some prior party members have ether attacks as well. Effectively, she’s a mage who relies on buff management for the party.

Most time spent controlling Melia will be summoning small elemental orbs which each provide the nearby party members with a buff when summoned, and attack the enemy when dispelled. These buffs range from agility, defense, ether, strength up, and more. When dispelled, they can act as damage over time, high-damage single target, or area of effect attacks. Skillfully managing which buffs to keep up and which to send off will separate good Melia players from great ones.

Melia’s ether damage should be focused on most in terms of gems, though one can also add gems that make her DoTs stronger or certain elemental attacks if they so fancy. As a small aside, her AI is rather dumb at deciding what to do with elementals and will tend to just… stand there. Control her manually, please.

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Riki: The Heropon

Heropon Riki is a jack of all trades and master of… some? The adorable mascot character of the game has incredible HP and fairly balanced stats across the board. His arts range from group healing, physical attacks with varying effects, and support arts, to elemental DoTs.

Unfortunately, Riki tends to not do enough concentrated damage to act as a tank despite his HP, and, in my experience, tends to perform best when inflicting enemies with his DoT effects. Chain attacks multiply damage, and this includes the damage ticks after the initial application, so if Riki can inflict multiple high-damage DoTs during one, watch the enemy’s health bar shred.

Riki can be built for almost anything, as stated, and can fit in near any team, though I would advise strengthening his ether attacks and damage over time effects as much as one can.

Xenoblade Chronicles Character Guides – Seven

Somewhat similar to Riki, Seven can fulfill nearly any role on the team from the hyper offense to tanking, and even adding minor support.

The difference here is that Seven’s gear determines their role, and the varying gear sets hyper-optimize into said roles rather than needing to meld Riki to one. Typically, I tend to run a hyper offensive Seven, as Dunban or Reyn is usually the tank. To that effect, though, Seven can do incredible damage by stacking attack haste and double attack gems with their aura which doubles their attack rate. You can see upwards of 10 to 15 attacks a second with this build.

Additionally, Sword Drives, one of their talent arts, is a 10-hit combo that does incredible damage, and later in the game, Seven receives an art that can topple an enemy without breaking. Can’t go wrong here.

This certainly isn’t the most depth I could go into with these Xenoblade Chronicles character guides, but I didn’t want this to become an essay. Other, more knowledgeable people have made 15-minute Xenoblade Chronicles character guides for each party member! I just wanted to give a rundown of the character’s strengths and weaknesses for those new to the game. My personal favorite team is Shulk, Seven, and Dunban if that matters!

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