Familiars in MapleStory can be a game-changer, but the system has come a long way from what it used to be, so that it might seem a bit much to some players.
I’m here to help with that, so sit back, crack open your favorite bottle/can of water because water is good for you, and let’s get started.
The Familiar System
Familiars are monsters you can summon that give you special boosts and bonuses when called. A lot of the monsters you hunt have a chance of dropping a familiar card when defeated.
These familiar cards which fall from the monsters come in three rarities or ranks – Common, Rare, and Epic and they can rank themselves up to Unique and Legendary through the use of special items, which gives a total of five ranks. Monsters may drop Unique Familiar Cards, but that’s very unlikely.
During the battle, you can summon that monster to assist you if you’ve collected its card, and it also provides two random potential bonuses (we’ll get to potentials later).
Familiar cards can be obtained by purchasing Familiar Booster Packs from the Cash Shop or the Familiar Shop. You can make this purchase once every day, and it costs 7,500 familiar points and gives three random familiars. Some familiars can only be gotten from these packs.
The final way to get familiars is to purchase booster packs with NX (Nexon’s universal currency) from the Cash shop, but this is not available on the Reboot server.
You can get to the familiar window by clicking on Roro, the Familiar Manager in the character’s Equipment Inventory at the bottom left corner.
When you start, you will only have one familiar summoning slot and be able to summon one familiar at a time, but as you progress, you will unlock two more summoning slots bringing it to a total of three using badges. These summoning slots are unlocked by obtaining badges (we’ll also cover badges later).
The collection tab in the familiar window shows all the familiars you have and can equip in your collection. You can then click on individual cards to view their stats and properties.
Each of your characters starts with only 100 familiar slots. However, it can be increased to a maximum of 2,500 by purchasing Familiar Slot Expansion Coupons. These can be gotten from the Cash Shop.
Summoning Familiars
The bonuses and abilities these Familiars have can only be used when they have been summoned. In your familiar window, under the setup tab, you can assign familiars to available summoning slots.
After assigning, you can save your current setup to be used in battle using the Summon Familiar skill found in the Basic tab in the Skill Window.
If you don’t see this skill go back to the setup tab in the familiar window, assign familiars to summon slots, and save because you must have at least one familiar assigned before using this skill. With familiars active, using the skill again dismisses them.
When familiars are summoned, the Summon Gauge begins to deplete slowly, and when it becomes empty, all familiars will be dismissed and cannot be summoned again.
The gauge can be refilled with the Familiar Essence article sold in the Familiar Market, and it also refills automatically at the server reset time (12:00AM UTC). It costs 1,000 Familiar Points to get Familiar Essence and it in turn recharges 50% of the Summon Gauge when used.
Familiars have a defense (DEF) stat and this determines how slowly the Summon Gauge will deplete with higher DEF stats slowing it down so you should summon as many as you can to slow down depletion.
You can also summon the same type of familiars up to three times and this stacks up their potentials.
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Levels
As expected, your new familiars will start at level 1. Levelling up a familiar increases their attack power (ATK) and defense (DEF). They gain 1 EXP when you kill monsters that are near your level (20 levels above and below your character’s current level) while they’re summoned.
The EXP requirements to get to each level are:
- Level 2 – 300
- Level 3 – 600
- Level 4 – 1200
- Level 5 – 2400
- Level 6 – 2600
- Level 7 – 2800
This leveling up occurs automatically up to level 5 which is the maximum level on the Reboot server. However, for non-Reboot worlds, Familiar Breakthrough Cards can be used to increase a familiar’s level by 1, up to level 7.
The Familiar Breakthrough Cards can only be used on familiars that have achieved Unique or Legendary rank and they’re available in the Cash Shop.
Ranks
The familiar ranks in ascending order are:
- Common
- Rare
- Epic
- Unique
- Legendary
The rank of a familiar can be increased when it reaches level 5 and has enough Rank Up points. Duplicate familiar cards have to be fused together to obtain Rank Up points.
A Suspicious Fauxmiliar Card can also be purchased in the familiar shop and this can fuse with any other familiar card to create Rank Up points but this card can only be purchased once a week.
In non-Reboot worlds you can purchase the Fauxmiliar Card. This card can also be used as fusion material for familiar cards and gives more Rank Up points than the Suspicious Fauxmiliar Card.
Note that the Fauxmiliar Card can only be gotten through booster packs from the Cash Shop in non-Reboot worlds while the Suspicious Fauxmiliar Card can only be purchased from the familiar shop.
When you have sufficient points to rank up your familiar, open the collection tab and go to the fusion menu. Here you can select the familiar and click the Rank Up button. Fusing gives varying amounts of Rank Up points based on rarity. These are:
- Common rank – 1 Rank Up point for each copy.
- Rare rank – 2 Rank Up points for each copy.
- Epic rank – 3 Rank Up points for each copy.
- Unique rank – 4 Rank Up points for each copy.
- Legendary rank – 5 Rank Up points for each copy.
- Suspicious Fauxmiliar Card – 15 Rank Up points for each copy.
- The Fauxmiliar Card – 30 Rank Up points for each copy.
The number of Rank Up points required to attempt a Rank Up increases the higher the rank of the familiar and during a Rank Up attempt, a Rank Up is not guaranteed if you’re trying to upgrade to Epic or Unique ranks. The Rank Up Point requirements are:
- Common to Rare – 50 points with a 100% chance to Rank Up.
- Rare to Epic – 100 points with an 80% chance to Rank Up.
- Epic to Unique – 150 points with a 40% chance to Rank Up.
On a successful Rank Up, the familiar level is reset to 1, the potentials are rerolled and the Rank Up points are consumed. 50% of the rank up points will be consumed if your Rank Up attempt fails. You can only use this method to get to the Unique Rank.
To Rank Up to Legendary you have to purchase a Red Familiar Card but these can only be gotten in non-Reboot worlds in the Cash Shop. They cost 1,200 NX each and are the only way to get to the Legendary Rank.
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Familiar Potentials
Individual familiars have two potential lines that enhance them when they’re summoned and to use them, potential lines must be identified/unlocked for a fee of 35,000 mesos. With your familiar selected in the collection tab, you’ll see a question mark in a window under the familiar if its potential has not been unlocked. Clicking the question mark and clicking ok will unlock it and then up to two lines of potential will be rolled for that familiar and these lines are determined randomly and will be:
- Common Rank: 1 Common line + 1 Normal line
- Rare Rank: 1 Rare line + Common line
- Epic Rank: 1 Epic line + Rare line
- Unique Rank: 1 Unique line + Epic line
- Legendary Rank: 1 Legendary line + Unique line
Each familiar has two potential lines which means you can have up to six lines and you can roll a lot of useful lines for familiars so try to collect a lot so you can mix and match the best ones.
Potentials for familiars are rerolled when you Rank Up and the higher the rank of the familiar, the higher their potential tier, which will give you higher potential values. They can also be rerolled with a Red Familiar Card. There is also a small chance that rerolling familiar potential with Red Familiar Cards will increase the potential to a Legendary rank but remember, these cards can only be gotten from the Cash Shop in non-Reboot worlds for 1,200 NX.
Familiar Badges
In addition to the boosts from the familiars themselves, badges can also provide a significant boost. Badges can be gotten by collecting all familiars in a set. Clicking on a badge will show you which familiars are required to unlock it. Once you’ve completed a set to unlock a badge, you can equip it to provide extras to your persona. You can’t equip more than eight badges at the same time. To equip a badge go to the familiar window and you can drag it into a slot or double click on the badge.
Badges are required to unlock summoning slots so you can summon multiple familiars at the same time. The first summoning slot is unlocked when you start. The second summoning slot can be unlocked by completing the quest Roro will give you (Roro’s First Update) after you collect one familiar badge and the third summoning slot will be unlocked by completing the second quest Roro will give (Roro’s Second Update) after you have collected ten familiar badges. Roro will provide updates when it’s time for these quests.
Here are the badges you can get and the effects that they’ll give:
- Starter Badge – Maximum HP +5
- Snowflake Badge – Maximum HP +5
- Oppressor Badge – Maximum HP +5
- Shadow Badge – LUK +2
- Magical Badge – INT +2
- Secret Badge – ATT +1, DEF +5
- Mesa Badge – STR +2
- Peaceful Badge – DEX +2
- Beach Badge – Movement Speed +1, Magic ATT +1%
- Rebel Badge – Critical Rate +1%
- Mineral Badge – DEF +5, Ignore Monster DEF +3%
- Sandy Badge – Damage +1%, DEF +5
- Machine Badge – INT +2, Magic ATT +1
- Toy Badge – Maximum HP +10, Ignore Monster DEF +3%
- Clockwork Badge – Maximum HP +1%, DEF +5
- Forest Badge – Maximum HP +5, DEF +5
- Wave Badge – Magic ATT +1%, DEF +10
- Wings Badge – Movement Speed +1, All Stats +1%
- Snow Badge – ATT +1, DEX +1
- Depths Badge – ATT +1%, Magic ATT +2
- Cloud Badge – All Stats +1, Ignore Monster DEF +3%
- Hatching Badge – All Skills +1 (Except 5th Job Skills & certain other skills)
- Time Badge – 3% chance to recover 20 HP when attacking, Ignore Monster DEF +3%
- Shrine Badge – 15% chance to recover 40 MP after defeating an enemy, Damage +1%
- Shuriken Badge – DEX +1, Damage +1%
- Showa Badge – All Stats +1, Damage +1%
- City Badge – ATT +1, Magic ATT +2
- Mighty Badge – STR +2, ATT +2
- Exorcism Badge – All Stats +1%
- Tyrant Badge – All Stats +1%
- Lion Badge – ATT +1%, Maximum HP +1%
- Future Badge – ATT +1%, Magic ATT +1%
- Mariner Badge – Jump +1, LUK +2
- Cursed Badge – DEF +2%, Critical Rate +1%
- Commerci Badge – DEF +2%, Critical Rate +1%
- Mushking Badge – ATT +2, Magic ATT +2
- Darkness Badge – Damage +1%
- Dragon Badge – Maximum HP +5, Ignore Monster DEF +3%
- Void Badge – Magic ATT +1%, Magic ATT +2
- Labyrinth Badge – All Stats +1%, Damage +1%
- Apocalypse Badge – ATT +1%, ATT +2
Stats from badges can also be stacked but they have a maximum amount. As an example, badges can only provide a maximum of +2% ATT, +10 Maximum HP and +15% Ignore DEF and some of the much more powerful bonuses won’t stack.
Also Read: The Best Link Skills in MapleStory
The Familiar Shop
You can access the shop by clicking on the Shop button in the top right corner of the familiar window and here you can purchase items such as Familiar Essence, Familiar Boost Packs and Suspicious Fauxmiliar Coupons to grow your collection. Familiar points which are spent here can be gotten by extracting familiars.
Familiar Extraction
If you have extra familiars and have no use for them you can gain familiar points from them. To extract familiar points, open the collections tab and go to the extraction menu. Here you can select the familiars you want to extract points from. The extraction screen will show you the familiars that will be destroyed and how many familiar points you’ll get for it. The number of Familiar Points increases based upon the Familiar’s Class:
- Normal: 10 Familiar Items
- Rare: 15 Familiar Items
- Epic: 30 Familiar Items
- Unique: 40 Familiar Items
- Legendary: 50 Familiar Items
This process cannot be reversed so be careful when performing extractions but even if you choose to extract points from a familiar it still counts in your badge collection and those don’t get taken away.
Final Thoughts
As we mentioned earlier, Familiars can be a game-changer in MapleStory. By summoning these monsters, you can easily get special boosts and bonuses. Not only that, but you can also get a familiar card sometimes after defeating these monsters. We hope this article helped you understand the concept of the familiar system in MapleStory.
