Shulk Build, Arts, Skill Trees, and Usage Guide

This is a profile and usage guide for Shulk, a character from Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch. Here you can find Shulk's roles, builds, stats at Lv. 99, best Arts, best skill trees, and official artwork.

Shulk Basic Information

Shulk Profile

Quick Facts
Name	Shulk
Age	18
Race	Homs
Height	171cm
Gender	Male
Weapon Type	Monado
Voice Actor (Eng.)	Adam Howden
Voice Actor (Jp.)	Shintaro Asanuma

Shulk Introduction

Shulk is the protagonist of the story. He lives in Colony 9, where he spends his time researching the Monado, a powerful but mysterious blade that is capable of damaging Mechon armor. Shulk later gains control of the Monado, and is able to hone its power to see into the future.

Shulk Stats at Lv. 99

Shulk's Stats at Lv. 99

HP	Strength	Ether	Agility
5135	405	417	117

Stats Explained

Shulk Build and Usage Guide

Shulk Strengths and Weaknesses

Physical Attacks	Ether Attacks	Tanking
Buffing	Debuffing	Healing

Note: A C Rank indicates that the character is either very poor in this role or cannot do it at all.

How to Play Shulk

A very beginner friendly character, and highly recommended for newcomers. Shulk excels in position based Arts, meaning that you'll need to use attacks like Slit Edge, Back Slash, and Air Slash to target the sides/backs of enemies. To really get the most out of these attacks, it is essential that you have a tank on your team such as Reyn or Dunban, who can draw the enemy aggro out, allowing Shulk to get out of the enemy's line of sight and use these arts on enemy sides/backs to charge the party gauge and deal heavy damage.

A good combat starting strategy is to attack the enemy, use Shadow Eye to lower aggro and raise physical arts, strike the enemy's side with Slit Edge to lower defense, then attack from behind with Backslash for massive damage. Be sure and level up these Arts as quickly as possible, along with Air Slash for its ability to inflict break/slow and charge the party gauge, as well as Monado Buster/Shield/Enchant for their usage against mechons.

When visions allow Shulk to predict an enemy art, you can use Monado Arts to break the tags. Use auto-attacks to fill the talent gauge about halfway, then use Battle Soul to charge the talent arts meter, and use the appropriate Monado art. The HP taken from Battle Soul can be quickly recovered through Light Heal, so using these two arts in succession is another good combo. During chain attacks, Shulk can use Air Slash (or Stream Edge) to inflict break, then have Reyn/Dunban (etc.) inflict Topple with Wild Down/Steel Strike, which can be followed up with Shaker Edge to inflict Daze.

Shulks gem setup is rather versatile, so things like Haste, Double Attack, Recovery Up, Aggro Down, and HP Up are all useful for him. The default Skill Tree Intuition will raise Shulk's agility, and is generally a great option.

Shulk as an AI

As an AI as well, Shulk has a tendency to use Arts like Slit Edge, Back Slash, and Air Slash to target the sides/backs of enemies, so you need to make sure that another party member is the one absorbing aggro for him to be effective. During Mechon battles, Shulk will use Battle Soul and fill his talent gauge so that he can cast Monado Enchant and provide support to his allies.

Shulk Arts

Name	Lv. Learnt	Effect	Power (%)	CD (sec.)
Turn Strike	1	Physical Art Heavy damage to a single target, and inflicts Break (10 sec).	500	-
Activate Monado	-	- Art Unleash the Monado's power to use a Monado Art.	-	-
Buster	-	Physical Art Use the Monado's full strength to attack all enemies in a line.	250 ~ 700	-
Enchant	-	Ether Art Causes attacks to pierce Mechon armour. Boosts damage slightly.	-	-
Shield	-	Ether Art Deflects enemy Talent Arts of the same level or lower.	-	-
Speed	-	Ether Art Envelop an ally in the Monado's power, improving evasion.	-	-
Purge	-	Ether Art Inflicts Aura Seal, removing enemy Auras and Spike effects.	200 ~ 353	-
Eater	-	Ether Art The Monado's power consumes enemies, including any buffs.	150 ~ 303	-
Armor	-	Ether Art The Monado's protection reduces physical and ether damage.	-	-
Cyclone	-	Ether Art The Monado's power attacks enemies all around its wielder.	300 ~ 408	-
Slit Edge	3	Physical Art Attacking from the side will reduce physical defence.	60 ~ 204	10 ~ 8.2
Back Slash	1	Physical Art Attacking from behind will inflict a large amount of damage.	200 ~ 380	20 ~ 14.6
Light Heal	1	Ether Art Gather the ether in the air to restore the HP of 1 party member.	216 ~ 423	25 ~ 18.2
Shaker Edge	23	Physical Art Slash at the enemy, inflicting Daze.	120 ~ 246	40 ~ 14.8
Air Slash	14	Physical Art Break the enemy's stance. A side attack may inflict Slow.	150 ~ 303	15 ~ 8.2
Shadow Eye	10	Ether Art Reduces aggro and increases physical Arts damage.	-	45 ~ 36.9
Battle Soul	32	Ether Art Sacrifice half of HP to fill Talent Gauge.	-	60 ~ 43.8
Stream Edge	5	Physical Art Swing weapon in front, attacking multiple enemies.	150 ~ 303	30 ~ 21.9

Best Arts | Which Arts Should You Level Up?

Shulk Skill Trees and Skills

Integrity Skill Tree

Integrity

Humanity

Intuition

Bravery

Pessimism

Effect		How to Unlock
Block Rate Up		Default Skill Tree unlocked when Shulk becomes playable.
0	1	2	3	4	5
2%	4%	6%	8%	10%	15%

Integrity Skills

Skill	Effect	SP	Coins
Medium Equipment	Allows medium weight armour to be equipped.	-	10
Secret of Life	More HP is restored when reviving a party member (10%).	700	20
Rewarding Work	Successfully completed quests award more EXP (10%).	1000	3
Resilient Warrior	Boosts physical defence and ether defence (5%).	2000	11
Ultimate Teamwork	Increases chain attack damage (25%).	3500	18

Humanity Skill Tree

Integrity

Humanity

Intuition

Bravery

Pessimism

Effect		How to Unlock
Ether Up		Default Skill Tree unlocked when Shulk becomes playable.
0	1	2	3	4	5
5	10	20	30	40	50

Humanity Skills

Skill	Effect	SP	Coins
Healing Wisdom	Healing Arts restore more HP (15%).	300	8
Kind Encouragement	Restores extra HP to an encouraged ally (5%).	700	7
Friendship Heals	Heals the party slightly after a chain attack (5%).	1000	20
Cheer of a Friend	Causes Burst Affinity to fill more of the Party Gauge (15).	2000	45
Chain of Friendship	Increases the chance of a Chain Link (15%).	3500	45

Intuition Skill Tree

Integrity

Humanity

Intuition

Bravery

Pessimism

Effect		How to Unlock
Agility Up		Default Skill Tree unlocked when Shulk becomes playable.
0	1	2	3	4	5
2	5	8	10	12	15

Intuition Skills

Skill	Effect	SP	Coins
Battle Cry	Increases tension gained from Battle Start Affinity (20).	300	13
Underdog	Agility Up buff at start of battle with higher level enemies (15%, 30 sec).	700	2
Equipment Master	Reduces weight of equipment (5).	1000	5
Fever Pitch	Increases chance of Fever when gem crafting.	2000	18
Element of Surprise	Improves Arts with Bonus Effects from behind.	3500	20

Bravery Skill Tree

Integrity

Humanity

Intuition

Bravery

Pessimism

Effect		How to Unlock
Critical Hit Rate Up		Acquired through completing the A Young Captain's Trust OR A Young Captain's Revival Side Quest.
0	1	2	3	4	5
2%	5%	10%	12%	15%	20%

Bravery Skills

Skill	Effect	SP	Coins
Fate Evasion	Grants EXP Bonus when vision tags are destroyed.	200	-
Hero's Privilege	Allows low-value items to be offered when trading (20%).	500	-
Lone Warrior	Grants Agility Up when a party member is incapacitated (20).	800	4
Ultimate Defence	Boosts physical and ether defence for the party (10%).	1000	65
Glorious Future	Talent Gauge will be at max after a vision.	1500	28

Pessimism Skill Tree

Integrity

Humanity

Intuition

Bravery

Pessimism

Effect		How to Unlock
Ether Defence Up		Acquired through completing the Désirée's Future Side Quest.
0	1	2	3	4	5
5	10	20	30	40	50

Pessimism Skills

Skill	Effect	SP	Coins
Fight the Future	Extends time before a vision becomes a reality (4 sec).	200	-
Stealth Warrior	Reduces aggro drawn from using Arts (10%)	500	30
Epic Evasion	Increases chance of Burst Affinity after evasion (5%).	800	45
Forced Mercy	Reduces aggro when damage is taken (25%).	1000	30
Immunization	Grants immunity to debuffs that reduce stats.	1500	45

Best Skill Links for Each Character

Best and Worst Gifts For Shulk

Best Gifts for Shulk

Collectable	Affinity Points	Area
Love Source	100	Other
Blue Chain	30	Colony 9
Rainbow Slug	24	Fallen Arm
Pauper's Cup	24	Satorl Marsh
Grape Spring	24	Agniratha
Digital Filament	24	Fallen Arm
Winding Gear	24	Bionis' Leg
Shield Bug	22	Makna Forest
Azure Hollyhock	22	Mechonis Field

Worst Gifts for Shulk

Collectable	Affinity Points	Area
Gold Burdock	-18	Eryth Sea
Angry Monkey	-14	Prison Island
Meaty Carrot	-12	Sword Valley
Honey Rhubarb	-12	Makna Forest
Juicy Broccoli	-12	Bionis' Leg

The Best Gifts for Each Character

Shulk Artwork

The following official artwork for Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition was released by the official Nintendo Twitter Page and Japanese Xenoblade Twitter Page.

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Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Characters

List of Playable Characters

Xenoblade Characters
Shulk	Reyn	Fiora	Dunban
Sharla	Riki	Melia	-