With cards like Tour Guide to the Underworld existing, alongside archetypes like Burning Abyss and Phantom Knights that are full to the brim with level 3 monsters, summoning rank 3 XYZ monsters has never been easier! If your deck has some level 3 monsters that you’d like to use to their full potential, then look no further – as we’re here to break down the best rank 3 XYZ monsters out there.
12. Number 34: Terror-Byte
Starting this list off is a classic card from the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal anime – Number 34: Terrorbyte. It’s a pretty expensive monster, costing three level 3 monsters to summon in the first place. If you can pull this off, however, it’s well worth the monsters required! Once per turn you can detach a material from this card to take control of a level 4 or lower monster your opponent controls, until the end phase. Not only does this prevent your opponent from XYZ summoning next turn, but you can use these materials for your own summon! That way you’ll never have to give the monster back, since it’s been used as an XYZ material.
11. Number 17: Leviathan Dragon
Number 17: Leviathan Dragon was our first introduction to Numbers in the Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal anime. It was here we saw the corrupting evil that came with Numbers cards. And what better way to show this off than with one of the most powerful rank 3 monsters? At 2000 attack, this guy is pretty strong. And once per turn, you can detach a material from this card to have Number 17 gain 500 attack. The downside is that once you’ve run out of XYZ materials, Number 17 can’t attack your opponent directly. With 3000 attack, however, this guy is still getting over most of your opponent’s monsters. And you can leave the direct attacking to the rest of your monsters!
10. D/D/D Stone King Darius
This card is pretty specific to D/D decks, as it requires fiend monsters to special summon. But if you do play D/D monsters (or any other fiend strategy) this guy definitely deserves a spot in your extra deck. Once per turn you can detach an XYZ material from D/D/D Stone King Darius to destroy any “Dark Contract” card you control, then draw a card. “Dark Contract” cards are the spells and traps that give D/D decks their immense power – it allows them to fusion summon, search monsters, revive monsters, and so much more, all with the caveat that each spell drains you of 1000 life points every turn. You can see why destroying them suddenly becomes a very good idea! And this card’s second effect is just as good for the deck as well: You can detach a material from this card to ensure that any monster it battles with is destroyed, while this card survives. With this ability, you can take on literally any monster your opponent throws at you – and there’s nothing they can do to stop you.
9. Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow
Number 75 is an amazing rank 3 monster if you’re running a Number’s orientated strategy. You can detach two XYZ materials from this card to change an opponent’s monster effect when it activates. Whatever the old effect was is gone, and is replaced with “each player draws a card”. This is a great way of shutting down pesky monster effects, while also gaining a little card advantage too. You can then target another Number’s XYZ monster you control and attach this card (and all its materials) to it. This is amazing for giving your Number’s monsters more fuel to activate their abilities: for example, you could attach this card as materials to Number 17: Leviathan Dragon and have its attack stat go all the way up to 4000. The possibilities are endless!
8. Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction
Not only does this rank 3 monster have an insane attack stat, but Number 30: Acid Golem introduces a whole new way to burn your opponent for damage. While you control this card, you can’t special summon any monsters. During each standby phase, you have to detach one XYZ material from this card, or take 2000 points of damage. When you run out of XYZ materials, this guy also can’t attack – so not only will you be taking a lot of damage, but this monster will be completely useless! Sounds awful, right? The strategy with this card is to summon it, use up all of its XYZ materials, then transfer it to your opponent with a card like Creature Swap. 2000 damage every single turn is an insane amount, and your opponent will have to pull something special out of the bag to overcome this burn strategy.
7. Grenosaurus
For a lot of players, this card was one of the first XYZ monsters we ever summoned, since it came in the very first XYZ starter deck! And here’s what it can do: When this fiery dino destroys a monster in battle, you can detach an XYZ material from this card to burn your opponent for 1000 damage. This is a great way of racking up damage on your opponent, on top of the battle damage you’re already sinking in.
6. Phantom Knights of Break Sword
In a Phantom Knights deck, this card is the perfect reusable card destruction effect. You can detach an XYZ material from this card to destroy 2 cards: one you control and one your opponent controls. If this card is destroyed then you can special summon 2 Phantom Knights monsters from your graveyard with the same level, then increase their levels by 1. While you can’t summon non-Dark monsters for the rest of the turn, this isn’t a problem for Phantom Knights decks who run entirely on dark monsters. This effect sets you up perfectly for some rank 4 XYZ plays. And Phantom Knights have a lot of good Rank 4 options to choose from!
5. Leviair the Sea Dragon
If you’re playing a strategy that involves banishing monsters, then Leviair the Sea Dragon is a must-have for your extra deck. Here’s why: You can detach an XYZ material from this card to target one of your level 4 or lower banished monsters, and then special summon it to your side of the field. Normally getting banished monsters back from the banished pile is an absolute pain, as most of the cards that do it have been banned (and for good reason!)
4. Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
Dante is an amazing card for Burning Abyss decks, but it also works fantastically in any deck that likes to mill cards. This is basically where you send cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard. While this may sound disadvantageous, certain cards trigger when they hit the graveyard, so this can be a huge advantage when used in the right deck. With Dante you can choose a number between 1 and 3 to mill that many cards. For each card you send, Dante gains 500 attack, meaning at full power this guy is a whopping 2500 attack. After Dante attacks, he’s turned to defense position. And with a respectable 2500 defense, that’s actually a much better battle position to be in!
3. Salamangreat Miragestallio
I never thought I’d see this guy come off of the ban-list. But I’m so glad we can all play Salamangreat Miragestallio again! With this card you can detach an XYZ material to special summon any Salamangreat monster from your deck. There are a ton of Salamangreat monsters that activate their effects on special summon, so Miragestallio is truly the start of many long chain of combos you can pull off with this deck. Salamangreat decks are primarily focused on Link summoning monsters, and so it only makes sense that this card will eventually be used as a link material. And when Miragestallio is sent to the graveyard for a link summon, you can target any monster on the field and return it to the hand. This is amazing for getting rid of powerful extra deck monsters, or for recycling monsters on your side of the field.
2. Number 47: Nightmare Shark
Number 47 is one of the best Numbers cards around, rank 3 or otherwise! It’s an amazing game finisher, meaning if your opponent is low in life points but high in monsters to defend with, you can use Number 47 to defeat them regardless. You can detach an XYZ material from this card to have any water monster you control attack your opponent directly. If you’re playing a pure water strategy, then this will open up many doors to demolish your opponent with. But in non-water decks you can always target Number 47: Nightmare Shark with its own ability to smack your opponent for 2000 damage!
1. Wind-Up Zenmaines
If you played Yu-Gi-Oh at the time Wind-Ups were released, then you’ll know exactly how powerful they can be. Wind-Up Zenmaines is the best rank 3 XYZ monster in all of Yu-Gi-Oh, as it’s incredibly useful in any deck that has level 3 monsters. Any time this card would be destroyed, you can detach an XYZ material from this card to ensure that it’s not. And during the end phase, if you activated this effect, you can then target any other card on the field and destroy it! This is an amazing way of turning your opponent’s destructive power back onto themselves: The more they try and destroy Wind-Up Zenmaines, the more their own cards get destroyed by Zenmaines. It’s an amazing way of providing yourself with some defensive power – and so this card definitely deserves a spot in any extra deck.
