Changing Your Character and Party Leader is vital for a smoother game progression in Xenoblade Chronicles 3! Read on to know how to change your characters, when you can change them, and the best party leader to set active at all times!

How to Change Characters

Press ZL + L/R

Before Swap	After Swap
Mio as Party Leader	Swapping to Noah

To change your current party leader, press ZL + L or R. This will change the currently active character you're using. This will also reflect itself in battle with you, manually controlling the character's movement and art usage.

Only Doable After the Near End of Chapter 1

Changing party leaders can only be done after reaching the near end of chapter 1! During the early parts of the game, you will not be able to change your party leader at all.

Chapter 1 Walkthrough

Can You Control Heroes?

Heroes Cannot be Controlled

You can only add 1 Hero to your party but these heroes cannot be set as your current party leader. They'll only be able to work in your party as a supporting character with their own AI.

Best Time to Change Characters

Change to a Defender and Draw Aggro

If your non-defender characters are drawing aggro, you may want to swap to your defenders and combo its arts. This will generate aggro to hopefully pull the monster's attention back to your defender.

Change to a Healer to Heal Party Members

If you find your healer not using heals, you can swap to them and use their heal arts manually to recover HP.

Alternatively, Swap to a Healer and Revive a Member

Another case for you to change your party leader to a healer is to revive a fallen ally. Most healers would always prioritize this but if you're in a dangerous situation where two members are down, manually choosing which member to revive first may benefit you in that fight.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Related Guides

Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks