Companions and beasts

Companions and beasts are easy to under-invest in because their bonuses are spread across many small passives. But several of those passives sit in multiplier groups of their own, and a companion’s element damage can end up among the biggest numbers on your account. This guide explains how both systems work.

The four companions

Each companion is tied to an element:

• Ellie: Wind
• Zeke: Earth
• Miho: Fire
• Luna: Water

Each has nine passives in three groups. Group I is available from the start. Group II opens at advancement 13, 15 and 17, and group III at 20, 22 and 24. The first passive in groups II and III needs all four companions to reach that advancement, not just the one you’re levelling.

What the passives do

Group I holds the passives most players level first, because they feed character stats directly:

Most passives max at level 100, so Blessing of Forest reaches +300% Extra ATK. Zeke’s Blade Dance is worth a closer look: it’s the only source in its ATK group, so every level multiplies your whole ATK rather than competing with other Extra ATK sources. Gold Rush and Luna’s Hymn of the Abyss also sit in multiplier groups for gold and EXP.

Groups II and III add each companion’s Understanding (element damage), a soul weapon completion booster for one colour, an element spirit interaction that boosts spirits of that element by up to +100%, and several mode-specific effects.

Understanding: the long passive

Understanding goes to level 1,500 instead of 100, and it doesn’t grow in a straight line. The early levels give about +1% each. After that, the gain per level steps up with every ten levels, and past level 500 every level adds +50%. Some reference points:

• level 25: +45%
• level 100: +550%
• level 500: +12,750%
• level 1,500: +62,750%

Because the gain per level keeps rising, Understanding gets more cost-effective the further you take it. After level 99, each level costs the same as level 99.

Levelling costs

Passives cost stones and emeralds, with the cost rising per level. Taking a passive to 100 is a big commitment: Blessing of Forest needs 198,000 stones and 74,500 emeralds in total, while Blade Dance needs 891,000 stones and 223,500 emeralds. Maxing Wind’s Understanding takes nearly 11.8 million stones. The analyzer shows the next-level cost and the cost to max next to each passive, so you can compare gain per resource directly.

Companion level and Status

A companion’s level comes from its passive levels: the total ÷ 5 up to 300 total levels, then 60 + (total − 300) ÷ 10 after that. So 299 total passive levels is companion level 59, and 320 is level 62.

Status turns that level into element damage. Each advancement sets how much element damage you gain per companion level, from 0.5% at advancement 0 to 47% at advancement 48. A companion at advancement 4 and level 10 gives +30%. One with every passive maxed (companion level 260) at advancement 48 gives +12,220% damage for its element. That’s why advancement is worth more than it first appears: it multiplies the value of every passive level you already have.

Promotion rolls

Companions also have seven promotion slots. Each slot rolls a stat, such as Extra ATK, crit damage or Accuracy, at a colour tier from White to Aqua. Its value is multiplied by the slot’s rank: ×1 for the first rank up to ×4 for the seventh. Advancement opens slots and raises their rank. At advancement 0 a companion has a single first-rank slot; at 48 all seven slots are seventh-rank. An Aqua Extra ATK roll of 20% in a seventh-rank slot is worth 80%.

Beasts

There are 21 beasts in five families: Wolf, Boar, Bat, Golem and Draco. Each family has three or four common beasts and one unique beast (Shadow Wolf, General Boar, Golden Bat, Rift Golem and Light Draco).

Beasts awaken from 0 to 6, and their affection cap is (awaken + 1) × 10: 10 at awaken 0 up to 70 at awaken 6. They contribute in two ways.

Owned effect

Every beast you own adds a combat bonus, and the total multiplies ATK, HP and HP Recovery in its own group. A common beast at awaken 0 and affection 1 gives 3%, and a unique beast at awaken 6 and affection 70 gives 29.58%. Dracos use a higher column: 5% and 59.16% for the same points. A Shadow Wolf at awaken 3 and affection 20 gives 14.48%.

Mounted effect

While any beast is mounted, owned attack beasts add a mounted ATK bonus, again in its own group. The mounted beast also brings its skill. Wolves, for example, give an ATK buff for 10 seconds after a set number of strike skills, and a Gray Wolf at awaken 2 gives +12%. Boars grant ATK after knockbacks, Bats and Dracos raise movement speed, and Golems work against Rift bosses. You can keep five beast presets, each with its own mount.

Where to invest first

Because beasts and Blade Dance each feed their own groups, they tend to give more per resource than another source in an already large Extra ATK group, and advancement raises the value of every passive level through Status. Collecting more beasts raises the owned bonus even before you awaken them. For the reasoning behind this, see how stats are calculated, then enter your companions in the analyzer to compare costs.