Chapter 3: Builders of a Legacy Walkthrough - Xenoblade Chronicles X Guide - IGN (2025)

In Chapter 3: Builders of a Legacy in Xenoblade Chronicles X, your first official assignment as a BLADE takes a sudden turn. Our walkthrough guides you through how to complete Chapter 3: Builders of a Legacy in XCX.

Choosing Your Division

Once you've returned from the training mission in Chapter 2, you'll go right into a cutscene with Commander Vandham. He's the former Chief Engineer of the White Whale, now in charge of the BLADEs, and here to formally induct you into the BLADE corps.

Elma and Vandham will take you through each of the eight divisions of the BLADEs, from Pathfinders to Prospectors and more. Depending on which version you're playing, either the original on Wii U or the Definitive Edition on Switch, Divisions can be a big choice or just a casual one. Head over to our guide on the Best Division to Join in Xenoblade Chronicles X to learn more. If you're playing the Definitive Edition, though, don't stress too much; as Elma says, the choice is mostly cosmetic, andyou can always change it later.

Have Vandham and Elma run through the options however many times you like, make your choice, and celebrate: you're now a fully fledged member of the BLADEs.

With all the ceremony out of the way, Vandham gives your make-shift squad an official task. A BLADE named Nelson and his squad have gone missing, and he wants your team to head to their last-known location and find out what happened.

Finding the Lost Squad

Hit the shops, pick up some Normal Missions, and head out through the East Gate when you're ready. You can fast-travel to the probe you established in Chapter 2, and you'll head east and then south toward the red marker.

Keep an eye out as you go for hostile monsters above your level, including the classic Xenoblade "dangerous monster near the starting zone," the level 81 Hayreddin, the Territorial. Best to give him a wide berth.

As you near the marker, you'll start to see the squad—or what remains of them—come into focus. Keep an eye out for the dangerous plants nearby, and get close to the wreckage for a cutscene. After finding the wreckage of a battle, several giant aliens with weapons will accost you.

You're presented with two options:

• Stand Down: Lower your guard and negotiate.
• Grip Weapon: Prepare to attack.

Whether you choose to attempt diplomacy or not, the aliens will reveal they've been ordered to wipe out all humans, and you'll have to resort to violence either way.

Thankfully, there are only two and they shouldn't pose much of a threat at this point. Keep in mind that you've got a new bar to play with, the Quick Cooldown technique. The bar located under the right half of your arts, near the bottom of the screen, gradually accumulates energy. You can expend this to use an art that's on cooldown, which is really useful for maximizing your Soul Voice follow-ups.

Loot the two Skell Wreckages and Patrol Chopper Wreckage for 1x Humanoid Slayer III, 1x Mining Probe G1, 1x Research Probe G1, and a bounty of EXP and Credits. Then, when you're ready, approach the base.

Clearing Out the Seaswept Base

You'll want to take a very careful path through this base because it's littered with two kinds of enemies: some at your level and some at much, much higher one. Keep an eye out for the Level 40+ enemies, as they'll act as a pseudo-boundary for your mission.

There are a series of forks where you'll want to head in certain directions to avoid them as you head up, around, across a bridge, and over towards the mission objective. At your first major fork, take the left path up and around.

Then, when you have the option to go left or right, head right towards the bridge with the patrolling Level 8 Prone Major.

Take out any at-level enemies you'd like along the way. After crossing the bridge, look over towards the left for a bunch of Domesticated Armored Suid and a Level 8 Prone Typhoon. Take them all out and loot the nearby Strange Insect Nest for some Experience, Battle Points, and 1x Advanced Soldier Assault Rifle.

Now veer right and head up the nearby tower through its internal ramps, reaching the top for a Skell Wreckage. It'll reward some EXP and Credits.

Then, leap back down and head up the small ramp towards the objective marker, taking out the Pawn Puge enemies along the way.

Once inside, you'll discover the fate of Nelson and the missing squad. True to their word, this new alien faction has wiped them out. Their squad leader introduces himself as Glennar, and you'll have to fight your way out.

After finishing the fight, your squad will head back outside and hear some rumbling from a nearby container. Choose to check it out, and a new friend will emerge from the vegetables inside: a Nopon named Tatsu.

Through a little convincing, Tatsu will team up with humanity and offer you a new tool: the Follow Ball. Hitting R + X will send the ball out, giving you an easy trail to follow towards your current objective. You can either use this to trek all the way back to the BLADE Barracks, or simply fast-travel there.

After debriefing Vandham on the situation, he'll determine the best course of action is to let Tatsu stay and continue to build humanity's foothold on Mira. With that, Chapter 3: Builders of a Legacy will come to a close.

At this point, the game will open up a bit. You'll be able to recruit new members, build up Survey Rate, undertake more missions, and be set loose on the world of Mira.

You'll also need to clear a few benchmarks to access the next Story Mission, Chapter 4: The Ganglion Menace. Now would be a great time to start clearing out Normal Missions, building up the FrontierNav network, and leveling some new classes.