Companions
- See also: Chocobo, Chocobo Raising and Chocobo Saddlebag
Companions are chocobos that fight alongside players. Players are not only be able to rank up their Chocobo Companion, but also customize their looks and abilities. Players can specialize their Chocobos into tanks, healers or damage dealers by allocating their Skill Points into the Defender, Attacker or Healer skill trees. Players can customize their Chocobo with various bardings. Bardings are purely cosmetic; they give no bonus stats or other benefits. Chocobo Companions cannot be used in instanced duties such as dungeons, but can be summoned while queued using the Duty Finder.
Obtaining
Chocobo Companions are unlocked after the completion of the My Feisty Little Chocobo quest, unlocked at level 30. The starting quest is acquired from an NPC named Docette, located in Camp Tranquil in South Shroud (X:17, Y:28). Players must have acquired their Company Chocobo by completing the quest My Little Chocobo before they can start My Feisty Little Chocobo.
Summoning
Gysahl Greens are required to summon a Chocobo Companion. They can be purchased for 36 Gil each from many vendors throughout the world. When summoned, the Chocobo is displayed as a party member and remains summoned for a 30 minutes, after which it is automatically dismissed. While summoned, the player feed the Chocobo more Gysahl Greens to keep them summoned. Each Gysahl Green will add 30 minutes to the timer up to a maximum of 1 hour. This timer is temporarily suspended while the player is in a city, an instance, or while mounted. After death or dismissal, players will need to expend another Gyshahl Green to resummon their Chocobo Companion.
Ranking Up
A Chocobo Companion matches the player's level, but begins at Rank 1. While summoned, the Chocobo Companion will earn companion experience points through defeating monsters, which in turn will allow it to rank up. The Challenge Log can also be used to increase the Chocobo's Rank; Bosom Buddies I grants 5% of the current Rank's experience, and Bosom Buddies II grants 10%. These Challenges require the player to defeat 20 and 100 enemies of comparable level to your own while your Chocobo Companion is summoned. Chocobo Companions can also be increased in Rank via Chocobo Raising at a Free Company's stable. Chocobo Companions do not receive experience through any other means, including FATE experience, Levequests, or Quests. Ranking up grants the Chocobo Companion Skill Points (SP) each level.
Chocobo Companions will initially stop earning experience once they reach Rank 10, at which point they must be fed a Thavnairian Onion, which will allow them to increase their Rank once more. This must be repeated for each rank until Rank 20, after which a Chocobo Companion can no longer earn any additional experience, Ranks, or SP. Experience required for each Rank rises dramatically, and therefore it will likely take quite some time before a Chocobo Companion reaches the max Rank.
- Note: Thavnairian Onions can only be used when the Chocobo's EXP bar for their current Rank is at maximum.
Empowering
Skill Points (SP) can be spent to grant a Chocobo Companion bonus stats and skills. Skills can be purchased in three specializations: Defender, Healer, and Attacker. These trees correspond to battle stances; when placed into a specific battle stance, the Chocobo Companion will exclusively use abilities from the corresponding tree. For example, a Chocobo Companion in Healer Stance will only use Spells unlocked in the Healer tree. Additionally, the Free Stance will instead instruct the Chocobo Companion to make their own decisions, and utilize any unlocked Skills from any tree.
Chocobo Companions earn an increasing amount of SP per Rank. At Rank 1, they earn 1 SP, at Rank 2, they earn 2 SP, and so on, capping out at 10 SP by Rank 10. However, a Chocobo Companion will earn 11 SP at Rank 17, 12 SP at Rank 18, 13 SP at Rank 19, and 14 SP at Rank 20, allowing players to purchase every Skill once a Chocobo Companion has reached the max Rank. Skills also cost an increasing amount of SP to purchase, starting at 1 SP and ending at 10 SP. Skills must be purchased in order within each tree. "Traits" are passive, and are always applied, regardless of the Chocobo Companion's current stance.
A Chocobo Companion's Skill Points can be refunded by feeding it a Reagan Pepper, purchased from the player's Grand Company Quartermasters for 48,000 Company Seals, or from their Hunt Billmaster for 20 Allied Seals.
Due to the nature of the player's lack of control over the companion's attacks and positioning, it is recommended to avoid leveling the Defender tree first. The player will almost always out-aggro the chocobo, so Tank and DPS classes should focus on the Healer tree, while Healers would benefit most from the extra DPS of the Attacker tree.
Appearance Customization
A Chocobo's appearance can be customized using various Bardings. Bardings are equipped in three different slots and are purely cosmetic: Head, Body, and Legs. Different Bardings can be mixed and matched to create a unique look for the Chocobo. Additionally, any Bardings will also appear on the Chocobo when ridden as a mount. This applies only to the "Company Chocobo" mount, and not any other Chocobo variations. Players can also change the color of their Chocobo; please see Chocobo Colors for more information.
Skills
Each individual skill costs its level in SP (level 1 costs 1, level 2 costs 2, etc). SP Cost in the table below is the total needed for that level.
Defender
Name | Icon | Level | Total SP Cost | Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Choco Drop | 1 | 1 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Increased enmity. | |
Enhanced Strength | 2 | 3 | Trait | Increases companion strength by 5%. | |
Increased HP | 3 | 6 | Trait | Increases companion HP by 10%. | |
Choco Kick | 4 | 10 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 130. Additional Effect: Slow + 20% Duration: 12s | |
Enhanced Accuracy | 5 | 15 | Trait | Increases companion accuracy by 5%. | |
Enhanced Critical Hit | 6 | 21 | Trait | Increases companion critical hit by 15%. | |
Choco Guard | 7 | 28 | Weaponskill | Reduces damage taken by chocobo by 15%. Duration: 15s | |
Enhanced Strength | 8 | 36 | Trait | Increases companion strength by 5%. | |
Increased HP | 9 | 45 | Trait | Increases companion HP by 10%. | |
Choco Strike | 10 | 55 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with potency of 150 to all enemies in a cone before it. Additional Effect: Increased enmity. |
Healer
Name | Icon | Level | Total SP Cost | Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Choco Regen | 1 | 1 | Spell | Orders chocobo to grant Regen to target. Cure Potency: 25 Duration: 18s | |
Enhanced Mind | 2 | 3 | Trait | Increases companion mind by 10%. | |
Increased HP | 3 | 6 | Trait | Increases companion HP by 5%. | |
Choco Cure | 4 | 10 | Spell | Orders chocobo to restore target's HP. Cure Potency: 300 | |
Enhanced Accuracy | 5 | 15 | Trait | Increases companion accuracy by 5%. | |
Enhanced Critical Hit | 6 | 21 | Trait | Increases companion critical hit by 15%. | |
Choco Surge | 7 | 28 | Spell | Increases chocobo's healing magic potency by 30%. Duration: 30s | |
Enhanced Mind | 8 | 36 | Trait | Increases companion mind by 15%. | |
Increased HP | 9 | 45 | Trait | Increases companion HP by 5%. | |
Choco Medica | 10 | 55 | Spell | Orders chocobo to restore its own HP and the HP of all nearby party members. Cure Potency: 150 |
Attacker
Name | Icon | Level | Total SP Cost | Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Choco Slash | 1 | 1 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 150. | |
Enhanced Strength | 2 | 3 | Trait | Increases companion strength by 5%. | |
Increased HP | 3 | 6 | Trait | Increases companion HP by 5%. | |
Choco Beak | 4 | 10 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 130. Additional Effect: Damage over time Potency: 20 Duration: 18s | |
Enhanced Accuracy | 5 | 15 | Trait | Increases companion accuracy by 5%. | |
Enhanced Critical Hit | 6 | 21 | Trait | Increases companion critical hit by 15%. | |
Choco Rush | 7 | 28 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 130. Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 5s | |
Enhanced Strength | 8 | 36 | Trait | Increases companion strength by 10%. | |
Increase Attack Speed (Chocobo) | 9 | 45 | Trait | Increases companion attack speed by 10%. | |
Choco Blast | 10 | 55 | Weaponskill | Orders chocobo to deliver an attack with a potency of 170 to all enemies in a cone before it. |
Stances
Free Stance
Auto-attacks while using all unlocked skills as the chocobo sees fit. A Chocobo Companion will auto-attack the first enemy the player engages, alternating between using unlocked Weaponskills and Healer Spells. The Chocobo Companion's target can be changed by switching it to Follow, then back to Free Stance.
Defender Stance
Auto-attacks and exclusively uses unlocked Weaponskills and Abilities from the Defender tree.
A Defender Chocobo Companion will struggle to hold enmity for most players. Moreover, even in situations where they are able to do so, they will quickly die without any healing, as they are unable to use any Spells from the Healer tree while in Defender Stance, even if they are unlocked. If the player would like their Chocobo Companion to tank, they will need to be prepared to hold back their DPS as well as keep them healed. Due to this, the Defender Stance is the least useful of the stances.
Healer Stance
Does not auto-attack and exclusively uses unlocked Spells from the Healer tree.
A useful stance if the Chocobo Companion has no Attacker skills unlocked. They will use Choco Regen whenever a member of the party or themselves take damage, while Choco Cure will be used when dropping below 75% HP. Choco Surge will be used whenever it is off cooldown. The Chocobo Companion will also follow behind the player directly while in this Stance, so make sure they are lead out of the range of any ground-targeted abilities, or they will be hit by them.
Attacker Stance
Auto-attacks and exclusively uses unlocked Weaponskills from the Attacker tree.
While this stance is simple and straightforward, it should be noted that a max Rank Chocobo Companion with all unlocked Skills will get slightly more out of using Free Stance, even if the goal is raw DPS. This is due to the cooldown of Weaponskills in the Attacker tree not being shared with those of the Defender tree. The increased enmity of Defender skills is inconsequential in any context, unless the player or their party's DPS is exceedingly low. They will also be able to sustain themselves and the party while in Free Stance, which they are unable to do while in Attacker Stance.
Food Effects
When feeding the below foods to a summoned Chocobo Companion, they will gain a boost to their stats for as long as they remain summoned.
- Buffs will persist while: the player is using a mount, or the player is in a city where the Chocobo does not follow them.
- Buffs will disappear if: the Chocobo's timer runs out, the Chocobo is defeated in combat, the "Withdraw" action is performed, or the player logs out of the game.
- Only one of these buffs can be active at a time. If a new buff is cast, it will overwrite the old one.
- If the food is a Chocobo's favorite, the buff will be upgraded to level 2.
Food | Normal Effect | Favorite Effect | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Curiel Root | Companion EXP Up | Companion EXP Up II | Gardening |
Sylkis Bud | Companion Attack Up | Companion Attack Up II | Gardening or Vendor |
Mimett Gourd | Companion Healing Potency Up | Companion Healing Potency Up II | Gardening or Vendor |
Tantalplant | Companion Maximum HP Up | Companion Maximum HP Up II | Gardening or Vendor |
Pahsana Fruit | Companion Enmity Up | Companion Enmity Up II | Gardening or Vendor |
Achievements
Companions are associated with the following achievements:
Name | Points | Task | Reward | Patch |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bosom Buddies I | 5 | See your companion chocobo to rank 1. | - | 2.1 |
Bosom Buddies II | 10 | See your companion chocobo to rank 5. | - | 2.1 |
Bosom Buddies III | 20 | See your companion chocobo to rank 10. | Chocobo Suit | 2.1 |
Breaking Bo | 5 | Train another player's chocobo companion 30 times. | Plumed Barding | 2.3 |