Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Soulhacker Guide

Fellow Ourobouros, you have made your way into the third act of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. You have access to a boat and you have begun traveling the seas, looking for any and all Classes you may have missed. Well there is one might just be the most complex and the most rewarding if you know the ins and outs. This is our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Soulhacker guide.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Soulhacker Guide – The Doing It My Way Sidequest

Like all new Classes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you'll unlock Soulhacker by completing a special Side Quest. The sidequest in question, Doing It My Way, is a bit complex to get to, but not impossible.

First, you will need access to a boat. This will happen as part of the main story once you reach the back half of Chapter 5 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3's main story. You'll need it to traverse the large ocean that makes up the Cadensia Region.

Next, you will need to head to Ishan Island. This is the island that is northeast of the First Pillar Remnant, or just north of the Cascade Crossroads. If you have neither of those landmarks unlocked, just head north east from the camping spot you had to rest at to forward the the main story in Chapter 5. Once you have reached Ishan Island, a cutscene will play out showing a large Ferronis traveling the seas. Once you've activated this cutscene, keep heading east until you reach Hargan Point Camp. This is the island where the Ferronis has touched down.

From here, you will activate another cutscene, revealing a colony and its odd commander, Triton. You now have started the Doing It My Way sidequest. The sidequest itself is pretty straightforward. You travel to three different islands as part of a challenge set down by Triton. This involves fighting monsters and finding treasure.

There is one multiple choice question on one of the islands. As part of my playthrough, it seems that the correct answer was choosing “the fossil,” but given Triton's highly whimsical personality, this could be question with no wrong answer.

Once all three challenges are complete, you'll have a boss battle against Triton. Once you've beaten him, the sidequest is complete. Not only will you unlock the Soulhacker class, but Defiant Triton as a playable Hero.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Soulhacker Guide – How Does Soulhacker Work?

The Soulhacker is completely different from every other class in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It doesn't fit into any predetermined role (Attacker, Defender, Healer), nor does it have its own special Skills. In addition, it only has three Arts to start; you can't combine any prior Arts into your loadout for Fusion Arts with this Class. This is because the Soulhacker obtains new Arts and Skills from defeating enemies. If you are familiar with the Blue Mage archetype in the Final Fantasy series, the Soulhacker is in that same vein.

But before you start beating up every single monster in the wild for new abilities, there are some major rules to keep in mind. First and foremost, Soulhackers can only get new Skills and Arts from defeating Named Monsters. These are the powerful monsters that freely roam the open environments, usually seen with orange accents around their health bars. Sometimes they are referred to as Raid monsters since fighting them requires a bit more thought and consideration.

Second, you don't necessarily need to be in the Soulhacker class to get these new abilities. If you really want to get more variety and power out of this Class without hampering your party composition, there is a trick. First, boost the Soulhacker's Rank to 10. You can easily do this by spending a bunch of Silver Nopon Coins you've been collecting throughout the game. Once you do that, set up your characters in your preferred Classes, but equip one of them with the Soul Hack Skill – which you unlocked by hitting Rank 10. Just one character needs to have this Skill equipped. Now, just fast-travel to older areas, tear through Named Monsters, and you'll unlock abilities for the Soulhacker. You should see a “Soul Hacked” message once you've beaten the monster.

Last but not least, there is a comprehensive list of abilities for the Soulhacker Class. Go into the Hero menu then hit the “Y” button. This will pull up a list of every single Skill and Art for the Soulhacker, which ones you've acquired, which Named Monsters have those abilities as well as the region they occupy.

If you have not reached a certain region in the game yet, or if the Named Monster is a higher level than you, they will only show up as a set of question marks. Finally, each Skill and Art in the list includes an additional objective for upgrading it. This can be as simple as killing some monsters in a certain region, or as complex as locating all key landmarks. If you love exploration or grinding levels, this is a good checklist to have.

For what kind of various builds you can make with the Soulhacker, there are a ton. The Class is highly flexible, it even includes special Role Skills you can equip if you want to push your character more towards offense, defense, or support.

For the unlocked Skills and Arts, mixing and matching them can lead to some highly specialized powerhouses. This is because several of the Skills can provide powerful debuffs to certain enemy types. Slap those debuffs into an offensive Fusion Art and you can punch through armor like a champ. The same goes for more defensive and healing strategies as well. Overlapping AOE buffs and healing, powerful interchanging Block and Evade boosts, the list goes on.

If you put in the work, the Soulhacker Class is one of Xenoblade Chronicles 3's most powerful classes.

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