Here’s the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass DLC schedule

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is set to release four bundles of DLC through its Expansion Pass, and it will follow a defined schedule. We’ll tell you what that schedule looks like.

Nintendo has been ramping up its efforts when it comes to both paid and free DLC for first-party titles. That’s on full display with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 with the Expansion Pass. The Expansion Pass includes four bundles of DLC that are meant to keep players coming back to the game for more than a year. But with that release schedule plotted out far into the future, how will players know when the next wave of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass DLC will come out?

The good news is that Nintendo has already given players a rough idea of when each bundle will come out, and what will be included in each Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC bundle.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass DLC schedule for waves 2, 3, 4

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will have three waves of DLC. The first part was available on day one, with early adopters able to get a dash of extra content right away. Everything past that is currently scheduled to come out between four and 17 months from now.

While there aren’t exact release dates set for each wave of DLC just yet, there are estimates with Nintendo stating that each wave will come out before a certain date. The exact dates will presumably arrive closer to each release.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Wave 1 (July 29, 2022)

• Item bundle
• New colors for character outfits

The first wave was available at launch for Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, it was the smallest and lightest of the DLC waves in terms of what it had to offer. This includes just a bundle of items including Nopon Coins and a recolored outfit for each of the six main characters.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Wave 2 (by December 31, 2022)

• Challenge Battle Mode with difficult enemy fights
• New hero with related questlines
• New character outfits

Things are set to grow in a big way for wave two. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s second wave of DLC will add Challenge Battle Mode, a new hero, and actual new outfits for characters.

Challenge Battle Mode is essentially a boss rush mode, allowing players to test their skills and their character builds against challenging enemies. The mode was available in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and odds are it will look largely the same here.

Alongside this is a new hero with questlines surrounding them. It’s unknown who the character might be or what tasks will fall upon the player, but it’s an exciting thought to get fresh content for the game with meaningful rewards that far out from the initial release date.

Finally, while the first wave added pallet swapped outfits for playable characters, wave two will add actual brand new outfits. Nintendo hasn’t yet confirmed what these outfits will look like or who will be getting the new outfits.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Wave 3 (by April 30, 2023)

• Challenge Battle Mode with new difficult enemy fights
• Another new hero with questlines
• More new character outfits

The third wave of Xenoblade Chronicles DLC will be a rerun of the second wave. And that’s probably not a bad thing.

Challenge Battle Mode will be expanded, another new hero will be added, and another batch of character outfits will arrive. Once again, the exact details of who is coming and who will be getting new looks is uncertain, but there’s enough here to be excited about.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Wave 4 (by December 31, 2023)

• New original story scenario

The final wave of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC will be add new story content to the game. What sort of story content remains unknown.

Without spoiling anything, there’s enough room for either an epilogue chapter or an expanding of the events from the flashbacks players see throughout the game. There could also hypothetically be a focus on more closely tying together the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 with previous games in the series.

The estimated December 2023 release date may be a placeholder. It’s estimated that there will be four months between each of the first three waves of DLC so it’s definitely strange that there are eight months between the third and fourth DLC packages. Then again, it’s possible that Nintendo is just pulling out all the stops to make the final bit of content for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 extra special.

How much does the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass cost?

Players can get the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass for a cost of $29.99.

While digital copies of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are available from a number of major online retailers, that’s not the case with the DLC. The Expansion Pass is almost exclusively available on the Nintendo eShop. There are some options from some sites of questionable legitimacy selling them at a markup, but as of this writing the only safe option for players looking to get the DLC is to buy it directly from Nintendo.