Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Classes aren't Unlocking due to being Overleveled? Here's how to unlock classes faster

So you're playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and you just recruited one of the many Hero characters to join you on their journey. They're cool, have a cool class, and you want to unlock that class on one of your main six characters. However, no matter how much you battle, it never seems to unlock for your character to use. You seem to be stuck, and classes aren't unlocking. What's the deal?

The truth is, the gameplay systems of Xenoblade 3 are sometimes deceptive - and if you're overleveled, it can in turn lead to it feeling like classes won't unlock no matter what you do. This guide aims to explain these systems, and help you out of the rut. 

What to do if Classes aren't Unlocking in Xenoblade 3: The Overleveled Problem

After you are introduced to Classes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you'll see that when unlocking new classes for new characters, the chibi-style icon on the Class Selection screen starts out looking like a silhouette or outline. You place that Hero in your party - as well as any inheritors of the class - and as you play through the game, this outline will slowly fill in. Eventually, it'll unlock the class for that character to use. However, you may start to think - for some reason - that classes just don't seem to be unlocking.

Here's the small tidbit that the game doesn't really clearly tell you. Class unlocking in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is tied to CP gain. The more CP you earn in battle, the more that chibi silhouette will fill up. You earn more CP when fighting enemies that are higher level than you. If you fight enemies that are lower level than your party, you'll barely gain any CP at all.

What this boils down to is that, if you stick to battling weak enemies, classes will barely budge when it comes to unlocking them. What you need to do is seek out enemies at or above your level, and maximize CP gain.

How to Maximize CP Gain to Unlock Classes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3

If you've been thorough in completing side quests in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you'll inevitably find yourself a bit over-leveled when it comes to the main-story path of the game. That means if you recruit a new Hero and stick to fighting the lower-level story enemies, it'll take a stupidly long time to unlock that class to use for someone else. As I said before, you need to seek out enemies at your level, or ideally slightly above your level. Even if you are over-leveled, there are always higher-level enemies to fight.

Here are three tips to maximizing CP gain in order to unlock classes in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

1. The biggest tip I can give for gaining mass amounts of CP is this: you want to defeat a high-level enemy with a Chain Attack, and try to achieve the highest overkill bonus possible. If you're not familiar, the overkill bonus is earned for any additional damage done to the enemy during a Chain Attack after their health is depleted. Logically, that means you want to try to initiate a Chain attack when an enemy is very low on HP, so that you can deal the most damage possible while earning a high overkill bonus. Note that while the UI specifically states an EXP bonus, it affects CP gain as well.

2. A smaller tip I can give to maximize CP gain is to eat CP-boosting food before fighting enemies. You can buy CP +20% food in Colony 9, CP +30% food in Colony 11, and CP +40% food with the residents of Colony 0.

3. Finally, Elite Monsters are ideal targets for CP gain, because they naturally give a 300% CP bonus upon defeat. Stack this with CP-boosting food and a high overkill bonus, and you'll be swimming in CP.

Finally, depending on what your current level is, here are some suggestions for monsters to fight for CP gain. These are just suggestions, and you may find better enemies to suit your needs. Remember there are always enemies higher level than you.

• If you are around level 35, try fighting enemies in the Elaice Highway area.
• If you are around level 45, try fighting the level 50ish Submit Gogols in the northern part of Elaice Highway, including the Elite. in the area.
• If you are around level 55, try fighting the level 60ish Elite Zeoth Serprond on the west border of Elaice Highway, south of Purus Palecolumn. You can also find level 55ish Elite Eclipse Marrins on the north/east side of Dannagh Desert
• If you are around level 65, try fighting the Elite Yolmun Dragues in the Lower Maktha Wildwood.
• If you are around level 75, try fighting enemies in Elgares Depths in Aetia Region.
• If you are around level 85, try fighting the Elite Zenze Taos in The Cavity
• If you are level 99, I found it best to fight the Unique Monster Dreadwyrm Nizzoont in the Lower Maktha Wildwood. You can find more details in our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Unique Monster Guide.