Guardian Commander Class Guide: Best Arts and Skills

Guardian Commander is a type of Defender class in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and is the default class of Zeon. 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.

Guardian Commander Class Overview

Guardian Commander Basic Information

Class		Role	Default Character
Guardian Commander		Defender	Zeon
Attack	Defense	Health	Support
C	A	C	A
Description
A Defender whose skills shine even brighter in the face of adversity. A ray of hope on the field of battle.

Character Class Rating

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

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 Guardian Commander

Recruit Zeon by Completing Their Hero Quest

Guardian Commander is the default class of Zeon, a hero in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. To unlock this class and equip it to your main characters, you must first complete their Hero Quest: Where the Heart Is.

Where the Heart Is Walkthrough

Complete Reasons to Evolve 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 Reasons to Evolve.

Reasons to Evolve Walkthrough

Best Guardian Commander Characters

Recommended Characters
Noah	Lanz	Sena

Though the Guardian Commander class is primarily a Defender Class, many of its arts and skills also focus on attacking. Since Lanz and Sena both have good defensive and offensive stats, they both make great Guardian Commanders.

Noah has great Attack and learns the class quickly due to his high Class Rating, making him an excellent starting character for the class.

Best Guardian Commander Arts

Recommended Combat Arts

Art	Attack Type	AoE	Base Effect
Shield Bash	Physical Attack	One Target	None
Noble Taunt	Taunt	One Target	None
Imperial Sword	Physical Attack	One Target	Boosts damage dealt by 50% when Awakened.

Guardian Commanders need to excel in both Attack and Defense, so Arts that increase both stats are necessary for an effective character, while Shield Bash is useful to help you execute reliable combos.

Noble Taunt is especially useful to immediately catch the attention of your enemies and protect your allies. However for multiple consecutive battles, Grand Protection can be swapped for this.

Recommended Master Arts

Rank 1 and 10 Master Arts

Art	Base Effect	Class Rank
Glow Ring	Target Lock	Zephyr Rank 10
Mighty Beat	AOE / High aggro / Smash	Lost Vanguard Rank 10
Flamelord	Front attack ↑	Seraph Rank 1

Master Arts like Mighty Beat and Glow Ring work well with Guardian Commander as it lacks any significant Aggro-generating and sustaining Art aside from Noble Taunt. Flamelord also works well since they are often in the front lines of battle.

Rank 20 Master Arts

Art	Base Effect	Class Rank
Blossom Dance	High aggro / Pierce	Lone Exile Rank 20

Though it is best to use the default Talent Art for this class due to the many Art effects that require the Awakening buff to activate, if you're looking for an alternative Talent Art, Blossom Dance is a decent replacement as it can help draw in more aggro.

Best Master Skills for Guardian Commander Builds

Rank 5 Master Skills

Skill	Effect	Class Rank
Defensive Soul	Boosts Physical Defense by 10%.	Heavy Guard Rank 5
Fighting Prowess	Boosts damage dealt by physical Arts by 30%.	Ogre Rank 5
Natural Selection	Reduced damage taken by 20% when HP is at 30% or lower.	Lone Exile Rank 5

Since Guardian Commanders are expected to take on a lot of damage, Defense-boosting skills work best, while Fighting Prowess is also a decent skill since most of the Arts of this class are Physical Attacks.

Rank 15 Master Skills

Skill	Effect	Class Rank
Com an' Get Me!	When blocking, deals 100% of Attack damage to enemy drawing aggro.	Lost Vanguard Rank 15
Fortified Ether Guard	Boosts Ether Defense by 10%.	Royal Summoner Rank 15

Once you have mastered some Rank 15 skills from other classes, we recommend replacing Fighting Prowess with one of the Arts above. Fortified Ether Guard is especially important due to the lower Ether Defense of the class. However, the skill is only available in the Post Game.

Best Accessories for Guardian Commander Builds

Increased Damage while Targeted by Enemies	Boosted Maximum HP	Boosted Block Rate
Beastfang Necklace	Iron Temple Guard	Solid Weak Guard

As a Defender, your Guardian Commander will constantly be attacked by enemies, so increasing their damage while targeted is useful. Boosting their HP and Block Rate is also ideal so that they can last longer on the battlefield.

List of Accessories

Best Gems for Guardian Commander Builds

Increased HP	Increased Block Rate	Boosted Aggro from Arts
Ironclad	Steel Protection	Brimming Spirit

Defensive Gems work best for Guardian Commanders as they help make them more effective Defenders. Brimming Spirit is essential for this class it often has trouble drawing in enemy aggro.

All Gems and Their Effects

List of Guardian Commander Arts

Talent Arts

Base Art Information
Deflector Field	Area of Effect	Self	Power Multiplier	0%
	Buff/ Debuff	Awakening	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Role Action Recharge	Recharge Gauge	4
	Effect	Absorb attacks taken while Art is active, also become stronger for a time.

Combat Arts

Base Art Information
Shield Bash	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	180%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	Topple
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	30s
	Effect	None
Noble Taunt	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	0%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	20s
	Effect	None
Falcon Swoop	Area of Effect	Frontward AOE	Power Multiplier	180%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	11s
	Effect	Boosts damage dealt by 50% when Awakened.
Grand Protection	Area of Effect	Self	Power Multiplier	0%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	50s
	Effect	Boosts Block Rate by 40% and reduces damage dealt by 15%.
Imperial Sword	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	300%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	26s
	Effect	Boosts damage dealt by 50% when Awakened.

Master Arts

Art	Rank Mastered
Noble Taunt	1
Shield Bash	10
Deflector Field	20

Hero-Exclusive Arts

Base Art Information
Proud Eagle	Area of Effect	Frontward AOE	Power Multiplier	210%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	11s
	Effect	Boosts damage dealth by 70% when Awakened.
Celestial Strike	Area of Effect	One Target	Power Multiplier	390%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	Knockback
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	23s
	Effect	Boosts damage dealth by 70% when Awakened.
Victory Shift	Area of Effect	Self	Power Multiplier	0%
	Buff/ Debuff	-	Reaction	None
	Recharge Type	Time Recharge	Recharge Gauge	44s
	Effect	Boosts Block Rate by 40% and reduces damage dealt by 15%.

Arts Guide: List of All Arts and Effects

List of Guardian Commander Skills

Class Skills

Skill	Base Effect
I'll Help	Take attacks for nearby allies with low HP. Damage taken is reduced by 15%.
Soldier's Potential	When HP is at 30% or lower, restore 0.6% HP each second.
Protector's Pride	Boost recharge speed by 30% when non-Defenders are targeted.
Mind for Guarding	Increase damage reduction rate when blocking by 10 percentage points.

Master Skills

Skill	Rank Mastered
Protector's Pride	5
Mind for Guarding	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	-