Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a huge game, and just one small part of that huge whole is the inclusion of Heroes. During the course of the story (and also largely through optional content), your party of friends cross the world and liberate colonies of soldiers from the cruel Moebius overlords. As gratitude, the leaders of those liberated colonies choose to join forces with your party, becoming a seventh party member known as a Hero (this isn’t always who this process goes, just usually). However, with over 15 different heroes to choose from, you can’t possibly use them all.
Here are my ten favorites that I’d recommend giving a look and adding to your adventure!
10) Triton
As a character, Triton is awesome. He’s one of the precious few Moebius who isn’t an outright jerk trying to kill you, and he’s in fact been around so long that he just does whatever he wants with his life…up to and including joining your party in the fight against his fellow Moebius! He’s also got a great pirate-y accent and just exudes that sort of embarrassing crazy uncle energy that makes him constantly entertaining. Unfortunately, I don’t find him a particularly effective party member, and I was never fond of the side quest needed to flesh out the class he gives you.
9) Valdi
Valdi’s the first healer of substance that you acquire, which means most players will find it easy to slot him right into their party setup. While he falls off in the late game, his efficiency at healing is still notable, and his bonus damage against machine enemies can turn the tide of specific encounters. Thankfully, Valdi’s also a joy to be around, essentially being an enthusiastic nerdy kid eager to share about his hobbies with anyone who will listen. Trusting to a fault, his side quests are some of the most optimistic in the game.
8) Ashera
Ashera’s an interesting character, because her initial appearance leaves a bad taste in most player’s mouths, my own included. She’s a reckless hothead with a suicidal love of throwing herself at enemies, and her casual attitude about death can come off as callous. But, then we later learn that her moniker of “The Undying” is much more apt than anyone realized, because Ashera is cursed with remembering her previous lives each time she reincarnates after death. Her cynical outlook on her life is born from her depression of realizing how futile this unending war is. The added depth really helps her, as does the simple fact that she’s an awesome fighter with a great class.
7) Zeon
For the first third of the game, my main party was severely lacking in tanks, so my wing-haired man Zeon here occupied a nearly permanent slot for well over thirty hours of gameplay. Is he the greatest Hero in the game? Absolutely not, though he does a respectable job at being tanky and drawing aggro. Is his ascension quest (focused around an extremely lengthy potato growing side quest (don’t ask)) exciting and fun? Also…not really. Still, I have a soft spot for the guy, and I love his no-nonsense attitude. His initial recruitment Hero quest is also still the second best Hero quest in the game, and it really sets the stage quite well considering its also the first.
6) Miyabi
Miyabi manages to swing strongly on both sides of the Hero spectrum, earning her this spot on the list. Both her recruitment quest and ascension quest are memorable and entertaining, and her characterization is consistently enjoyable. She’s an upbeat girl always trying her best to make others happy, and so helping her realize that it’s okay to look after herself too is a welcome moment for her. She’s also the second best healer class in the game, so adding her into your party is a guaranteed way to buff your team up to tackle challenging foes. Her only slight downside is coming so late into the adventure.
5) Monica
You could make the argument that it’s cheating to put someone like Monica on this list, and I’d partially agree. No matter your thoughts on her class (it’s pretty good, but not amazing), she’s undoubtedly one of the major players in the game’s central story (which is something most Heroes cannot attest to). She’s a strong, commanding, and effective leader, but at the same time she’s not without faults, as the high cost of war makes it clear she’s being weighed down by hard choices. It’s also obvious that her job as the leader of the resistance is pulling her away from time spent with her daughter, Ghondor, and there’s a clear rift between them. The quests tackling these issues are some of the game’s best.
4) Gray
In more ways than one, Gray comes as a complete surprise. His Hero quest becomes available with no warning, he shows up and leaves while giving little information about himself, he is one of the few Heroes who aren’t leaders of a colony or colony-adjacent group, and he doesn’t appear again in the story until 30+ hours later (though he can thankfully still be used as a party member). His personal class is also the unique class of Elma, the main heroine of, and my favorite character in, Xenoblade Chronicles X. So, even disregarding his cool and mysterious personality, Gray gets huge bonus points just for being as fun as Elma was to play as back in 2015.
3) Isurd
Isurd is, effectively, another instance of a Hero making this list under circumstances like Zeon. He’s not the best Hero in the game on a personality or gameplay level, but he’s still a solid contender on both fronts. He has this sort of wise, hyper-analytical mindset that I can find myself relating to (he takes hours to make even simple decisions because he has to weigh all the pros and cons). I also give him bonus points for tying in quite nicely to the main plot and Taion’s (arguably the coolest main party member) character development. As a healer he does a good job at keeping your party topped up while also dealing decent damage, and my party severely lacked a strong healer in the mid-game, so I used Isurd for quite a bit of my playtime.
2) Fiona
Without even mentioning her characterization or plot relevance, Fiona is the single strongest character in the game, as is her class too. Ranking consistently at the top place across all internet tier lists, Fiona and her personal class are simply unmatched in overwhelming utility. Buffs (as a concept) are intrinsically overpowered in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Fiona can supply your party with an infinite barrage of buffs faster than you can blink. On top of this, she’s the proud focus of the best Hero quest in the game (and one of my new favorite side quests ever), and her colony of lovable kids is super cute and wholesome. I also like her quietly assured personality, and how goofy her outfit looks on the other party members when they use her class.
1) Ghondor
As my favorite character in the game (who isn’t named “Shania”), it wasn’t hard for me to stick Ghondor right at the peak of this list. There’s an absolute boatload that I could say about Ghondor that would go well beyond the scope of this Top 10 list, so I’ll just try to narrow it down. There’s not much that I don’t love about her. I really like her visual design and abrasive but caring personality (she’s just so short and so angry all the time), I like how heavily she features in the main story despite entering the picture so late, I love how she connects to other characters that I have a soft spot for, and above all I’m in love with her class. The second I unlocked her class, I never stopped using it. There’s nothing more fun than sucker-punching a robot, back-kicking a giant dragon, or upper-cutting Immovable Gonzalez!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 