Xenoblade Chronicles 3 recently received its second wave of DLC, adding the new Hero Ino and the first of two planned sets of challenge battles. These increasingly difficult challenges allow players to test their party and their skills, while offering valuable rewards on success.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has only been out for a few months, but players can already enjoy several pieces of new content as part of the expansion pass, including a number of costumes, a new hero, and the Challenge battles that are the focus of this article.
Accessing The DLC
Before players can access any content from the Expansion Pass, it must first be activated via the game's pause menu. Head into the Expansion Pass menu, select Wave 2, and claim the Challenge Battles quest to add it to the quest list. With this done, players will need to head for the Fornis Region.
The portal to the Land of Challenge has appeared near the Llyn Nyddwr Camp, which is down the cliffs to the west of Colony 30. Approaching the portal will have the group sucked into the Land of Challenge, where they come face to face with the Nopon Archsage.
How Challenge Battles Work
In the Land of Challenge, speaking with the Nopon Archsage allows players to browse the list of available challenges. Certain challenges may only appear after a certain point in the main story, in order to prevent spoilers regarding certain characters and bosses.
Players are graded based on the time it takes them to clear the challenge, with a grade of A or better required to earn the item reward for a challenge. Challenges also each have their own set of rules, which can be seen in the bottom right of the menu. If a challenge has a level restriction, party members above that level will be reduced to that level for the duration of the challenge.
Players can also see the number of waves in a challenge in the rules section, which can be useful when preparing. The Archsage's attendants can be found on the left side of the Land of Challenge, each offering a service in exchange for Noponstones.
The "Archsage's Aide, Red" will exchange 2,000 Red Noponstones for Class Unlock Experience, allowing characters to quickly unlock classes they don't yet have access to. Meanwhile, the "Archsage's Page, Red" offers an assortment of prizes ranging from powerful accessories to silver and gold nopon coins.
Players wishing to amass lots of Noponstones should look out for the bonuses that sometimes get activated after clearing a challenge. These appear on a random Challenge that has already been cleared and will multiply the Noponstone rewards from that challenge by 3. Only five bonuses can be active at a time, and they last until that challenge is cleared.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is available for Nintendo Switch.