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Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Nopon Coins guide: what they do and how to farm them

Jesse Lennox
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JRPGs love to create their own terms for just about everything. Currency, spells, abilities, classes — you name it and a JRPG will rename it. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, not only do they have all those previously mentioned mechanics to learn but also two types of currencies. Thankfully, these aren’t the types that have invaded more predatory games which have one in-game currency and another you need to spend real money on, but rather one special type that is much more difficult to come by.

Nopon Coins are not only a rare, but very useful, currency you will want to collect as much of as possible, but is even further divided into two sub-types. There’s a ton of stuff to do in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and only certain activities will payout with these rare coins. If you want to know everything you can do with Nopon Coins and the best way to farm them in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, check out our guide.

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Further reading

What are Nopon Coins for?

A character in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 looks ahead.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Before you go off searching for these special coins, you should know what you stand to gain from them. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, there are two primary uses for Nopon Coins: exchanging them at the Nopon Coin X-Change to directly upgrade your characters, or bypassing material requirements for gem crafting.

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To find the Nopon Coin X-Change you will need to locate a secret merchant in the Fornis Region. You can find them by going to the east side of the area by the Raptor Perch landmark, where you will find a cave. As you explore the cave you will start a quest called “Thrill of the Hunt” and need to get through a few simple puzzles to reach the end of the cave. Once you get through to the other side, you can find and interact with the X-Change.

Using coins to upgrade your character is even easier. Go into your character menu and hit Y on the class you want to level up.

While you can do a lot with these coins, the best uses are to upgrade characters, purchase powerful items from the X-Change, and possibly to speed up gem crafting. Other uses, while not a waste exactly, aren’t the best use considering the work you need to put into get them. At the same time, don’t hoard them. You can only hold 99 of any item in the game, and if you get any more while full, they will automatically be sold for regular gold.

How to get Nopon Coins

A quest log showing rewards.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are a couple of ways you can get Nopon Coins in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but all of them take some time. We already mentioned the chance to simply find them in chests, but here are the more reliable ways to gather these trinkets.

The first time you encounter a unique monster in the world, you are rewarded with some coins for going out of your way to beat them. These are typically the toughest enemies in the area, so make sure you’re leveled up appropriately before challenging them. However, this method only works the first time, so you can’t grind them this way.

If you spot a skirmish between two monsters while exploring, you will be presented with the choice of helping one side against the other. One side will always offer you Nopon Coins as a reward, which you should obviously pick every time. These are random occurrences, though, but are worth keeping an eye out for.

Finally, do any and all quests that offer Nopon Coins as completion rewards. Not every side quest will give them out, but all the ones involving Nopons do so prioritize those whenever you can. Thankfully you can see what rewards each quest is offering in your journal before actually doing them.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
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