Metaphor: ReFantaziois oftencompared to the Persona seriesthanks to the shared use of a calendar system and social stats, but another system that both share is the Social Link mechanic, which in Metaphor is renamed to bonds.
You will have separate bonds with each of your followers you meet throughout the game’s story, and with each rank, you’ll unlock at least one skill. You have quite a bit of choice about which followers to prioritize, especially in the early-game, when social stats have less of a bearing. However, some of the skills are better than others, so which skills are the most useful for the early-game?
7Scion’s Skill
All Bonds - Various Levels
While each of your followers will have some unique skills that make them stand out, there are also skills that you’re able to expect to see on all of your followers at some point. One ability crucial tobuilding your archetypesis Scion’s Skill.
With each archetype you unlock from a follower, you’ll initially only be able to inherit one skill, but this grows to two with Scion’s Skill. This makes building archetypes much easier thanks to the flexibility you get with extra slots, and later in the bond, you’ll eventually unlock more slots as well. This skill is usually around level 2 or 3, so if you want to build a follower’s archetype, look out for this skill.
6Guard Duty
Hulkenberg - Level 2
In the early-game of Metaphor: ReFantazio, you’ll most likely just have three or four party members until you start to reach the mid-game. This means that Hulkenberg will nearly always be in your party, so unlocking Guard Duty with her second rank is well worth prioritizing, especially since it’s so early in her bond.
With how bulky Strohl and Hulkenberg are, it’s easy to want to prioritize damage instead of endurance for the protagonist, and this can make them one of the flimsier characters in your party. To help counter this, Guard Duty enables Hulkenberg to occasionally jump in and absorb hits for the hero if they exploit his weakness.
5Speed Cooking
Maria - Level 4
One of the more overlooked mechanics in Metaphor: ReFantazio, thanks to how tucked away it is within the Gauntlet Runner, is cooking. With the simple combination of three ingredients (and usually a short dialogue section), you can create some pretty useful consumables to help you in the field.
The issue is that this mechanic takes time out of your precious in-game day. However, if youget Maria to her fourth rank, then you may immediately remove the time it takes to cook. This means that you can cook unlimited dishes without having to use any time, so before you plan to use all your ingredients in dishes, try and reach this rank first.
4Battle Hypnosis
Party Members - Various Levels
As you start to add more party members into your team, you’ll notice that the characters that get benched will still get some XP from fights, but not as much as the active ones. This can make it easy to forget some of your party and let them get under-leveled, but ideally, you’ll want them all to be useable, since you can switch them in and out amidst combat.
If you don’t want to worry about your more circumstantially useful characters falling behind on their XP, then you’re going to want to unlock Battle Hypnosis before you bench them. This skill will let them get more XP when out of combat, and you can even rank it up so they get equal XP later on in the bond.
3Guild Discount
Brigitta - Level 5
Brigitta is one of the earliest non-party member bonds you have access to, and she’s one you should aim to rank up as soon as possible whenever you get the option. She has some of the most useful rank-up rewards in the game, but arguably, her best is for her fifth level, Guild Discount.
This will give you a hefty discount in every shop that sells equipment for your party, whether it’s weapons or armor. These necessary upgrades for your party can quickly rack up a high cost, so getting the discount from Brigitta will massively stretch how far your Reeve goes.
2Bombardier
Neuras - Level 2
Neuras is one of the trickier bonds to level up, since all the keys to ranking him up are hidden inside mini-dungeons and can often be quite well-hidden. However, even unlocking his first rank as soon as possible will net you Bombardier, which is a lot more useful than you’d initially expect.
This skill will let Neuras attack any enemy you fight on the Gauntlet Runner, immediately shaving off a good fraction of their health in the first turn. This is particularly useful during fights against Elementas that will flee in one turn, since you’ll get masses of magla if you manage to beat them. It’s even better at saving time in fights against mini-bosses on the runner as well.
1Escape Artist
Bardon - Level 5
Metaphor: ReFantazio stands out from other Atlus JRPGs with a more involved overworld combat mechanic to enter into fights. Not only is it easier to ambush enemies, but also just as easy to be victim to an ambush as well.
With how rewarding an Unscathed Victory bonus can be, getting ambushed is a pain, and it’s often preferable to just escape and try and ambush again. However, if you fail to escape, you’ll be victim to a whole extra turn of enemy attacks. This is why you’ll want to get Bardon to rank 5 as soon as you can, since Escape Artist drastically improves your chances for a safe getaway.
