Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Traversal Skills List & Unlocks
Your journey across the lands of Aionios in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will require a great deal of skills - and not just those that you use in combat. Key to progressing in your adventure are Traversal Skills, vital upgrades that let you access areas that at first might appear to be impossible to reach.
Thankfully, these Traversal skills aren't missable outright - but you can delay getting some of them if you're not looking for them. Others unlock naturally with story progression. This guide explains what each skill does, plus how and when they're unlocked - just so you can plan ahead of when you can return to areas you can see but can't reach as you play.
Xenoblade 3 Traversal Skills guide: How to unlock every Traversal Skill:
There's a total of four Traversal Skills on offer in Xenoblade 3 - and each naturally lets you access a new part of the world in full. The skills basically allow you to circumvent environmental blockers that stand between you and new areas - with each taking on a slightly different form.
The skills are Wall Climbing, Ripe Sliding, Scree Walking, and Hazard Neutralization - and each opens up new exploration possibilities for you across the huge world of Xenoblade 3. It's worth noting that Traversal Skills don't carry over into New Game Plus, meaning that you'll have to earn them again if you choose to go for a NG+ save.
Two of the skills are essentially learned automatically as you progress the story, while the remaining two can be done earlier or later, at your convenience. All four are related to hero recruitment missions, which you'll likely want to be doing anyway, as unlocking all classes is tied to getting every hero to join your crew. As such, completionists should naturally stumble into even the final Traversal Skill themselves - but here, we explain where they're all unlocked so you can prioritize them if you so wish.
Wall Climbing
As the name suggests, Wall Climbing lets you clamber vertically up walls - though it only works on specific walls - those you see marked with stand-out purple vines and foliage.
Wall Climbing is unlocked as you progress the story - specifically right after you recruit the hero Valdi during the Chapter 3 quest "The Kind Right Hand". This is compulsory - so you can't miss it.
Scree Walking
Scattered throughout the world of Xenoblade 3 are very steep inclines with an uncertain surface - try to run up them and you'll simply slip back down. Getting the Scree Walking traversal skill lets you speed up these hills with ease, letting you reach new heights - literally.
To unlock Scree Walking, you'll need to recruit the hero Teach, which is accomplished by completing the "Going Beyond Power" quest. This is optional, but if you want to knock it out ASAP, it can be done as early as Chapter 3.
To access this quest, you'll need to reivist Colony Gamma in Chapter 3 or later, and visit the Alfeto Valley area to find the trigger for this quest. The nearest camp site is the Gura Flava Camp.
Rope Sliding
Rope Sliding brings to mind Sonic the Hedgehog, because as a skill it basically mirrors how modern Sonic spends a lot of his time grinding around rails. Rope Sliding in Xenoblade 3 works similarly, allowing you to stylishly ride ropes that are stretched across chasms to reach new areas across great gaps.
Rope Sliding is unlocked when you recruit Juniper, another compulsory hero. This takes during Chapter 4, during the unmissable quest "Natural Selection".
Hazard Neutralization
This is a nice simple traversal skill - Hazard Neutralization lets you bypass deadly, hazardous or poisonous floors without taking the inherent damage that comes with walking on such terrain. This can be hugely useful not just for traversal, but for battles that might take place on such surfaces.
Unlocking Hazard Neutralization is tied to another hero recruitment - this time for Segiri. This is a later hero recruitment, and can be undertaken in Chapter 6 by tackling the side quest "Inhumanity", which itself requires you first complete "Severed Connection". This one is more complicated, and you can check out our Quest guide for more details - but here's the basic version:
- Imminent Illusion: This quest automatically triggers in the Maktha Wildwood. You fight a battle, and the quest is over. This quest is vital, however, as it's a prerequisite to start...
- Severed Connection: The second quest in this line, look out for a ? marker near Colony 4. You'll need to go to Murmur Rise and fight some Raiders, plus some other small steps. If this quest isn't appearing, try completing other quests tied to Colony 4.
- The Illusion Returns: You must have completed Severed Illusion, as well as the Side Story: Mio quest, which also unlocks the Zephyr ascension. You may also require the "Writer's Block" quest be completed for this quest to start. Once you can start it, find a ? marker at a spot South of Colony Omega. Follow this quest and complete it.
- Inhumanity - Recruiting Segiri: Finally, after completing the above, you'll start this - Segiri's hero quest. This is a relatively straightforward quest, requiring a bit of back and forth to collect items and battle.
As part of the Inhumanity quest, Segiri will teach you the ability to walk on dangerous areas - Hazard Neutralization, the last of your traversal skills!
With this done, you can freely explore any area of Xenoblade Chronicles 3's world - so long as you can survive the dangerous monsters out there. Watch out for those high level Unique Monsters in particular - no traversal skill will stop you getting squashed!