Adventurer Bondmates
Overview
Basics
- All adventurers can become bondmates ("stat bondmates") if they are dismissed after reaching flaming-heart trust status.
- Stat bondmates are not the same thing as story bondmates. The former increases base traits while the latter increases derived stats such as Attack Power, Accuracy, Evade, and so on.
- Each stat bondmate increases a specific, fixed trait. For example, Abenius only increases STR and you will never recieve a stat bondmate copy of her that increases another trait like DEX or IQ.
- Stat bondmates range from level 1 to 5.
- Unlike story bondmates it is possible to have multiple copies of the same stat bondmate.
- Stat bondmates are equipped in the Training Room under the Bondmates sub-menu and are included in the Bondmate List.
Trait Bonuses
- The stat bondmate trait bonus is a function of both the Grade of the adventurer being equipped and the level of the bondmate, which increase at higher levels. See examples in the tabs.
- Trait bonuses cap at +7-8 at level 70. It is possible to attach a level 2 and level 3 stat bondmate to one character for the "equivalent" of a level 5 stat bondmate.
- There is no additional trait bonus for matching elemental alignments. This holds true for story bondmates, too.
- Nameless, General, and Legendary adventurers all provide the same exact trait bonuses.
- A level 5 stat bondmate +
- A level 70 (Copper Grade) unit will receive +7-8 trait points
- A level 60 (Steel Grade) unit will receive +6-7 trait points
- The trait bonus range is due to rounding and will vary by unit
- A level 4 stat bondmate +
- A level 70 (Copper Grade) unit will receive +6-7 trait points
- A level 60 (Steel Grade) unit will receive +5-6 trait points
- The trait bonus range is due to rounding and will vary by unit
Bondmate Levels
- After dismissal the stat bondmate will receive a level from 1 to 5. It seems to be based on the level of the bondmates attached to it prior to dismisal. It is a mechanic that is not fully understood to-date.
- Based on extensive community testing we can confirm:
- If a unit has two, level 5 bondmates attached prior to dismissal it will result in a level 4 or 5 stat bondmate.
- The odds of either are effectively ~50%. There is no known, consistent way to guarantee a level 5.
- In practice, this means that for whatever number of level 5 bondmates you are targeting you will need to farm double that target.
- For example, if you want a level 5 SPD bondmate on 6 units you should expect to farm, on average, 12 SPD bondmates.
- Note that the bondmates attached to the dismissed unit are not lost, but are returned to the Bondmate List.
Flaming-Heart
- Bronze Grade (minimum level of 30)
- Defeat Helmut and either Melgina or Octoranus
- The game treats Melgina or Octoranus as the "same" Greater Warped One (GWO), so you cannot double-dip
- Melgina is safer and faster to defeat with low-level units
- The unit does not need to survive the fight; however, it is preferrable to avoid the trust penalty from dying
- Trust farm until the flaming-heart appears
- Do the conditions in the order listed.
- The primary reason people do not get the flaming-heart is because they begin trust farming prior to defeating the two GWOs.
- If you have been trust farming for more than 30 minutes, then double-check that 1) the unit is Bronze grade and 2) they GWO fights are completed and they survived.
Efficient Trust Farming
Trust
- For Tavern and Camp conversations the amount of trust points gained depends on two factors:
- Alignment (Good-Neutral-Evil)
- Selecting the "best" response to conversational prompts (Trust Table.
- More trust points are earned if the MC's alignment is the same as his conversation partner. For example, Neutral MC and Yekaterina (Neutral) will earn more trust points than Neutral MC and Milana (Evil) even if you provided the "best" response to both.
- Few-to-no trust points are earned with Good-Evil pairings.
- Other adventurers present during Tavern or Camp conversations gain a small amount of trust even if they are not directly participating.
- For example, if Good MC and Lana (Good) had a conversation with the "best" response selected, then:
- Lana (Good) = Maximum amount of trust points
- Abenius (Good) = Small amount of trust points
- Yekaterina (Neutral) = Small amount of trust points, but fewer than Abenius
- Milana (Evil) = 0 trust points
- Battles provide an extremely small amount of trust. It requires 100+ battles before you begin to see pips added to the Compendium. It is unknown whether a character needs to be present or take an action during combat to earn trust points.
- The death of a stat bondmate comes with a significant trust penalty. It should be avoided at all costs while leveling or during the GWO fights.
- Same alignment as MC = 1-3 additional Camp conversations
- Different alignment = 2-5 additional Camp conversations
- If a stat bondmate dies, then make sure the MC dies during the revival mini-game. The "Rise again" or "Accept death" options will negate any trust loss.
- If you have access to the Martial Training (Guarda Fortress) dispatch this is a safe alternative to manually leveling.
- Neutral MC is the optimal alignment when stat bondmate farming.
- Trust farming should be done with same-alignment parties only when possible.
- Lana (Good), Yekaterina (Neutral), and Alice (Evil) are excellent companions to bring along as they will frequently proc camp conversations.
- This process can be tag-intensive. Remember that you are refunded a Bronze tag at the end of this process, but you cannot downgrade tags!
Nameless Adventurers
- Always use Nameless adventurers (Human Fighter, Elf Mage, etc.) as they have lower trust requirements for a flaming-heart than their General or Legendary counterparts.
- General or Legendary adventurers can take 2-3x as long to reach flaming-heart status even if their alignment matches the MC. They also give the same trait bonus amounts as Nameless.
- Cannot join Tavern conversations, but are present during Camp conversations. This is the key to efficient stat bondmate farming.
- Receive "spill over" trust points from Camp conversations from adventurer's with the same alignment.
- Nameless that share the MC's alignment receive an additional trust boost and require few-to-no Camp conversations.
- 90% of the time they will receive a flaming-heart after defeating the second GWO - as long as they did not die at any point during the battle or while leveling.
- If they do not instantly receive the flaming-heart, then it usually requires 1-2 Camp conversations.
- Putting all BP into SPD is recommended to ensure the stat bondmates can move before Melgina/Octo to defend against their attacks.
- STR - Human Fighter (Neutral)
- DEX - Beast Thief (Evil)
- IQ - Elf Mage (Neutral)
- SPD - Human Ninja (Evil)
- VIT - Dwarf Knight (Neutral)
- PIE - Human Priest (Good), Elf Priest (Evil)
- LCK - No unit - Nameless, General, or Legendary - gives Luck as a trait bonus
- The only General units you may want to consider using are Philip (Neutral) and Viviana (Evil) for SPD.
- The Human-Ninja (Evil) requires 830K EXP to reach level 30 versus 330K EXP for Philip and Viviana.
- The trade-off is that Philip's inherit, Delay Attack, can be very useful if using battle speed strategies in conjunction with MC Chrono 1-2.
- Viviana's inherit, Hiding, is no longer as attractive as it used to be, but she is one of the more difficult characters to build trust with if you are not using an Evil MC.
Trust Farming Process
- Ensure that every unit (besides the MC) shares the same alignment as the stat bondmate.
- It is most efficient to raise two different stat bondmates of the same alignment simultaneously.
- Neutral: Human Fighter and Elf Mage
- Evil: Beast Thief, Human Ninja, Elf Priest
- Good: Human Priest, Dwarf Knight
- Go to the Beginning Abyss, F7
- Find a chest and have MC (ideally) fail the mini-game
- It is not known if failing chests results in a trust penalty, but it does lower the MC's hidden Fortitude value.
- There is a fixed mimic chest on F6 by the stairs you can fail and run away from the mimic fight; this can be repeated.
- Go to the F7 Fountain and Camp, use the Trust Table to select the "best" answers.
- Note: If the stone block to the Fountain is not reversed, then you can 1) harken to F8 and reverse them or 2) see if wheeling twice on "King's Arrival" restores them.
- Exit
-
Repeat this process until the flaming-heart procs on the stat bondmate.
Do not start trust farming until the stat bondmates have been promoted to Bronze grade and have defeated both GWOs (Helmut and either Melgina or Octoranus).
Putting It All Together
Below are the steps from start-to-finish to create a stat bondmate:
- Experience grind until level 30
- Pass the Bronze exam and promote (requires 3 No Grade tags)
- Defeat Helmut and either Melgina or Octoranus
- Note: If the Nameless bondmate dies at any point doing any of the above steps it will add between 2-5 extra Camp conversations
- Go to the Beginning Abyss, F7 and trust farm with a same-alignment team until the flaming-heart appears
- Go to the Guild > Training Room and attach any two, level 5 bondmates (story or stat bondmate does not matter) to the stat bondmate
- **Double-check that all conditions have been met and the unit is unlocked **
- Dismiss
- During the dismissal scene you will be notified that the adventurer is now a bondmate
- The Bronze Grade tag will be refunded
- Check the Bondmate List to see if they turned out to be a level 4 or 5
Do not forget to double-check you remembered to add the two, level 5 bondmates. This is the number one reason why this process can fail.
Other Notes
- Historically, adding additional bondmates (3-5) before dismissal always averaged out to a 50/50 chance to get a level 4 or 5 bondmate. Whether this has changed or not in recent patches remains untested.
- Matching elements does not provide an additional stat boost.
Bondmate Trait Table
| Bondmate | Increased Trait |
|---|---|
| Abenius | STR |
| Adam | IQ |
| Aldric | DEX |
| Alex | VIT |
| Alice | PIE |
| Amelia | SPD |
| Arboris | DEX |
| Asha | IQ |
| Bakesh | DEX |
| Barbara | STR |
| Beast-Thi | DEX |
| Benjamin | STR |
| Berkanan | STR |
| Bugen | STR |
| Chloe | STR |
| Clarissa | STR |
| Daniel | STR |
| Debra | SPD |
| Dino | IQ |
| Dwarf-Kni | VIT |
| Eckhart | VIT |
| Elda | STR |
| Eldorado | VIT |
| Elf-Mag | IQ |
| Elf-Pri | PIE |
| Elise | STR |
| Emil | PIE |
| Erwin | |
| Eulalia | VIT |
| Flut | IQ |
| Galbadus | VIT |
| Galina | PIE |
| Gandolfo | STR |
| Gaston | STR |
| Gerard | VIT |
| Gerulf | STR |
| Gilion | |
| Heinrico | DEX |
| Human-Fig | STR |
| Human-Nin | SPD |
| Human-Pri | PIE |
| Iarumas | IQ |
| Jarmil | IQ |
| Jean | DEX |
| Kiriha | DEX |
| Lanaville | VIT |
| Livana | |
| Marianne | PIE |
| Milana | DEX |
| Olive | VIT |
| Ophelia | STR |
| Philip | SPD |
| Red Beard | PIE |
| Rinne | |
| Savia | VIT |
| Shelirionach | IQ |
| Shiou | STR |
| Valdor | IQ |
| Viviana | SPD |
| Yekatarina | IQ |
| Yrsa | |
| Yuzunamiki |