Swordfighter Class Guide: Best Arts and Skills

Swordfighter is a type of Attacker class in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and is the default class of Noah. Read on to learn more about the class, including its best arts, skills, characters, accessories, and gems, as well as find out how to unlock the class.

Swordfighter Class Overview

Swordfighter Basic Information

Class		Role	Default Character
Swordfighter		Attacker	Noah
Attack	Defense	Health	Support
A	C	C	A
Description
Swordfighters are well-balanced attackers dealing high damage blows while not sacrificing much mobility despite their weapon's size.

Character Class Rating

Noah	Mio	Eunie
S	A	B
Taion	Lanz	Sena
D	B	C

Class Rating is the speed at which each character ranks up an individual class, so the lower their Class Rating, the slower it takes for them to rank up the class.

How to Unlock Swordfighter

Unlock Class Changing in Chapter 2

Swordfighter is the starting class of Noah, one of the main characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, so their class will be available for other party members to equip once you are able to change classes.

Changing classes is unlocked after completing The Hillside Hulk Standard Quest during Chapter 2 of the game.

Noah Character Profile

Complete Side Story: Noah to Unlock Rank 20

After you unlock this class, it will have a rank cap of 10, so you are unable to upgrade its Arts and skills further than that rank. To break the rank cap and extend the limit up to Rank 20, you must first complete the quest Side Story: Noah.

Side Story: Noah Walkthrough

Best Swordfighter Characters

Recommended Characters
Noah	Mio	Sena

Noah and Sena both make excellent Swordfighters due to their high Attack stats. Though Mio does not have as high Attack, she makes up for it by having high dexterity, making her attacks extremely accurate.

Best Swordfighter Arts

Recommended Combat Arts

Art	Attack Type	AoE	Base Effect
Sword Strike	Physical Attack	One Target	Inflicts Break on enemy when attacking from side.
Edge Thrust	Physical Attack	One Target	Boosts damage dealt when attacking from behind by 100%.
Shadow Eye	Buff	Self	Halves own aggro value.

Swordfighters perform best when they have arts that focus on a single target. These arts also greatly help in filling up their Talent Gauges.

Though you can swap Shadow Eye for Air Slash in this case, having too much power can draw in enemy aggro, which we do not recommend to keep Attackers in top shape.

Recommended Master Arts

Rank 1 and 10 Master Arts

Art	Base Effect	Class Rank
Maximum Voltage	Unblockable / Atk. Up	Ogre Rank 10
Violent Flurry	Chance to pierce	Thaumaturge Rank 1
Flamelord	Front attack ↑	Seraph Rank 1

The three Arts above are recommended as Master Arts for Swordfighters. In particular, Maximum Voltage is the best Art in the list since it increases your attack damage and makes your attacks unblockable.

Flamelord is also a good Art due to the additional Positional damage, but you will need to equip Positioning Pro as a Master Skill to use it.

Rank 20 Master Arts

Art	Base Effect	Class Rank
Supreme Sword	Launched ↑	Incursor Rank 20

The Talent Art of Swordfighters is already exteremely powerful, but if you have a team that is more geared towards launching enemies rather than dazing them, then Supreme Sword is a decent alternative.

Best Master Skills for Swordfighter Builds

Rank 5 Master Skills

Skill	Effect	Class Rank
Fighting Prowess	Boosts damage dealt by physical Arts by 30%.	Ogre Rank 5
Critical Strike	Increases critical hit damage bonus by 30 percentage points.	Flash Fencer Rank 5
Positioning Pro	Increases the no. of positional arts that can be set to the Arts Palette by 1.	Full Metal Jaguar Rank 5

Fighting Prowess is the most recommended Master Skill since most Arts in the class are Physical Attacks. Positioning Pro is also necessary if you plan on using more than two Positional Arts in your palette.

Rank 15 Master Skills

Skill	Effect	Class Rank
Dynamite Spirit	Boosts damage dealt by 20% when HP is at 90% or higher.	Ogre Rank 15

Once available, it is recommended to replace Critical Strike with Dynamite Spirit since Swordfighters are not as reliable critical strikers are other classes. Dynamite Spirit is much more recommended since Swordfighters, with their aggro-reducing skills and Arts are not often attacked by enemies.

Best Accessories for Swordfighter Builds

Increased Attack	Increased Dexterity	Deal more Damage, Take more Damage
Silver Belt	Carbon Gloves	Victor Gauntlet

The best accessories for Swordfighters increase their attack damage or dexterity to make them more effective fighters. The Victor Gauntlet is also a good accessory to equip since Swordfighters can use aggro-reducing arts to lessen their chances of being attacked.

List of Accessories

Best Gems for Swordfighter Builds

Increased Attack	Increased Dexterity	Reduced Aggro from Arts
Steelcleaver	Accurate Grace	Disperse Bloodlust

The best gems for Swordfighters are those that increase their Attack and Dexterity, since they allow you to perform your role as an Attacker more effectively by increasing your damage and accuracy. Aggro-reducing gems are also ideal to further decrease their chances of taking damage.

All Gems and Their Effects

List of Swordfighter Arts

Talent Arts

Base Art Information
Overclock Buster	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	750%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Role Action Recharge	Recharge Gauge	3
	Effect	Boosts damage dealt when attacking dazed enemies by 150%.

Combat Arts

Base Art Information
Ground Beat	Area of Effect	Frontward AOE	Power Multiplier	300%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	30s
	Effect	None
Sword Strike	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	150%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	Break
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	30s
	Effect	Inflicts Break on enemy when attacking from side.
Edge Thrust	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	120%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	11s
	Effect	Boosts damage dealt when attacking from behind by 100%.
Air Slash	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	250%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	26s
	Effect	When canceling, boosts damage dealt by 25%.
Shadow Eye	Area of Effect	Self	Power Multiplier	0%
	Buff/ Debuff	Attack Up	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	40s
	Effect	Halves own aggro value.

Master Arts

Art	Rank Mastered
Ground Beat	1
Shadow Eye	10
Overclock Buster	20

Arts Guide: List of All Arts and Effects

List of Swordfighter Skills

Class Skills

Skill	Base Effect
Sharp Eye	Boosts Dexterity by 10%.
Covert Attack	Reduces aggro generated from attacks by 20%.
Cypher Edge	Boosts Critical Rate by 10%.
Inspirit	Boosts damage dealt by 60% when fighting a unique or boss monster.

Master Skills

Skill	Rank Mastered
Cypher Edge	5
Covert Attack	15

List of All Skills

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Related Guides

All Classes and Roles

All Attacker Classes

List of Attacker Classes
Swordfighter	Ogre	Flash Fencer
Yumsmith	Full Metal Jaguar	Stalker
Incursor	Soulhacker	Martial Artist
Seraph	Machine Assassin	Royal Summoner

All Defender Classes

List of Defender Classes
Zephyr	Heavy Guard	Guardian Commander
Lone Exile	Lost Vanguard	Noponic Champion

All Healer Classes

List of Healer Classes
Medic Gunner	Tactician	War Medic
Thaumaturge	Strategos	Signifer
Troubadour	Lifesage	-