How many bond activities do you need? Gifts, three-person meals, and the Pale Raven

Estimate from the tested gain for each character

Raising Ultand and Leda from an empty level-1 bar to level 2 takes about 4–5 Herbal Recipe Guides, estimated from a single gift’s gain under the same conditions.

Gifts needed to raise Bond Level#

Calculate counts separately for each character, level, and activity. Gift counts have been tested through level 2; Pale Raven records cover levels 1–4. Each row starts from an empty bar at that level and assumes the same gain per use under identical conditions. Existing progress reduces the required count.

Level increase	Activity and character conditions	Estimated count from measured gains
1→2	Ultand–Leda; loved, single-arrow Herbal Recipe Guide	4–5 gifts
1→2	Same pair; loved, single-arrow Garum	6–8 gifts
2→3	Dietrich–Leda; loved, double-arrow Candy Crystals	8–11 gifts
2→3	Same pair; loved, single-arrow Simple Pastries	11–18 gifts
1→2	Each pair at the three perfect level 1 meals below	4–7 meals
2→3	Cai–Ninae; Roast Goat with Halvin, perfect rating	9–13 meals
1→2	Cai–Eshmel; all three Pale Raven answers correct	2–3 interactions
2→3	Same pair; two Pale Raven answers correct	6–9 interactions
3→4	Same pair; all three Pale Raven answers correct	5–6 interactions
4→5	Same pair; all three Pale Raven answers correct	4–5 interactions

Attempts remaining ≈ round up [remaining progress / gain per activity under the same conditions]. For example, if Ultand–Leda already have half a level 1 bar, about 2–3 more Herbal Recipe Guides are needed.

How much bond progress does each activity give?#

Level 1 activities compared with a recipe guide#

One Herbal Recipe Guide gives Ultand–Leda about 21%–25% at level 1. Other level 1 activities compare as follows:

Activity	Measured characters and conditions	Share of full level 1 bar	Recipe guide equivalent
Herbal Recipe Guide	Ultand–Leda; loved, single arrow, actual cost 270 gold	About 21%–25%	1 gift
Garum	Same pair; loved, single arrow, actual cost 45 gold	About 13%–17%	About 0.5–0.9 gifts
Perfect three-person meal	Each pair at the three tables below	About 15%–29%	About 0.6–1.4 gifts
Good three-person meal	Cai, Catania, Sofia; calculated separately for each pair	About 12%–27%	About 0.4–1.3 gifts
All three Pale Raven answers correct	Cai–Eshmel	About 48%–52%	About 1.9–2.5 gifts
Two Pale Raven answers correct	Same pair	About 37%–40%	About 1.4–2.0 gifts
Ordinary three-person performance, good rating	All three pairs at level 1; each gains separately	About 6%–10%	About 0.2–0.5 gifts

The recipe guide and Garum both display “loved” in this comparison, yet give different gains. Their actual prices differ by a factor of 6, while their midpoint gains differ by about 1.5. Consider the specific item as well as the character’s preferences when shopping.

Three diners’ tastes and three pairs’ bond gains#

Three-person meal and rating	Pair levels	Gain as a share of the current level bar
Cai, Catania, Sofia; Garum Soup or Rock Salt Ham, perfect rating	All three pairs at level 1	Cai–Catania about 17%–21%; Catania–Sofia about 23%–27%; Cai–Sofia about 15%–19%
Seteth, Jasmine, Lysander; all three like or love it, perfect rating	All three pairs at level 1	About 25%–29% per pair
Cai, Ninae, Halvin; Roast Goat, perfect rating	Cai–Ninae at level 2	About 8%–12% for that pair
Leda dislikes it, Sha Lan is neutral, Nezha loves it; good rating	All three pairs at level 2	Leda–Sha Lan about 4%–8%; Leda–Nezha about 6%–10%; Sha Lan–Nezha about 10%–13%
Leda and Sha Lan like it, Nezha is neutral; good rating	All three pairs at level 2	Leda–Sha Lan about 10%–13%; the other two pairs about 6%–10% each

Three diners generate gains for three relationships. Even a perfect meal can give different gains to each pair. For recruitment on your current route, seat the target with that route’s protagonist. Three companions dining without the protagonist develop their relationships with one another. Plan one meal per unlocked dish each week.

Pale Raven and theater gains at different levels#

Activity and characters	Level and rating at the time	Share of current level bar	Weekly allowance
Pale Raven; Cai–Eshmel	Level 1, all three correct	About 48%–52%	1 interaction
Same	Level 1, two correct	About 37%–40%	1 interaction
Same	Level 2, two correct	About 12%–17%	1 interaction
Same	Level 3, all three correct	About 17%–21%	1 interaction
Same	Level 4, all three correct	About 23%–27%	1 interaction
Watch a play; Ultand–Noctula	Level 2, perfect rating	About 6%–10%	1 shared between watching and performing
Ordinary three-person performance	All three pairs at level 1, good rating	About 6%–10% per pair	Choose this or watching a play

The Pale Raven develops the chosen character’s relationship with Eshmel. Each record above uses the progress bar for its own level. Watching and performing at the theater share one weekly opportunity.

Adjacent combat, Linked Attacks, and Feasts#

Fighting beside one another, healing, Linked Attacks in Clashes, and world-map Feasts also develop relationships. For recruited characters, spend one spell use in battle, then repeatedly hold Feasts with ingredients that do not restore spell uses. Feasts cost ingredients and turns, while inn meals can also include unrecruited characters. See Feast mechanics for healing, ingredients, and turn costs, and inn dining for meals before recruitment.

Bond Levels and conversation unlocks are separate#

Bond Level describes the relationship between characters; C, B, and A describe support conversations. Reaching a numerical threshold still requires the pair’s story and event conditions. Do not force a C→B→A sequence onto pairs without a full conversation chain.

Use the support conversation table to find which pairs have conversations. For recruitment, check recruitment conditions for the numerical level needed between your target and the current route’s protagonist. If a conversation stays locked despite enough levels, check timing and prerequisite events before spending more on gifts.

Do expensive gifts give more progress?#

Results vary by item; expensive gifts have no universal price multiplier. In the Ultand–Leda level-1 comparison, Herbal Recipe Guide costs six times as much as fish sauce but gives only 1.5 times the progress, making fish sauce better per gold. Dietrich’s Candy Crystals and Simple Pastries also differ between single- and double-arrow preferences. Price or rarity alone cannot explain the difference in progress.

For the same pair at the same level, use the percentages above and the actual purchase prices:

Progress per gold = progress per gift / purchase price

Relative efficiency of two gifts = (cheap gift’s gain / cheap gift’s price) / (expensive gift’s gain / expensive gift’s price)

Garum’s efficiency relative to Herbal Recipe Guide = (15.4% / 45) / (23.1% / 270) = 4

For the first gift, whose purpose is unlocking invitations, keep using something cheap.

The internal formula involving preference, rarity, and price remains unsettled. Compare actual progress and the price you pay for specific items first.

Does a three-person meal need the protagonist?#

For recruitment on your current route, the target and that route’s protagonist must dine together. To develop bonds among companions, three companions can dine alone. If the protagonist is absent, the meal does not advance the target’s recruitment relationship with them.

A three-person meal develops all three pairs: protagonist–target A, protagonist–target B, and target A–target B. Replace the protagonist with another companion and it develops the relationships among those three companions instead. A meal with neither the four route protagonists nor Eshmel still develops three pairs.

• Recruiting on this route: bring the current protagonist and two targets, then favor a dish several diners like. After the bond threshold, you must still meet the target’s other recruitment conditions.
• Building team bonds only: choose the three companions you want to develop.
• Preparing for the next route: seat the next route’s protagonist with the target. Having Leda dine with a target during Cai’s route develops Leda–target, not Cai–target. See New Game Plus for cross-route loading conditions.

Buy cheap gifts first to unlock invitations#

Recipient	Low-cost favorite listed in the gift table	Unit price	Purchase location
Cai	Dagda Beard Grass	200 gold	Capital gift shop, Oriens Town market
Dietrich	Simple Pastries	30 gold	Capital tavern gift merchant, Benetonash Village market
Leda	Volcano Ghosh	150 gold	Capital tavern gift merchant, Basque lodging district market
Theodora	Ceremonial Spear	1000 gold	Gran Aragon market, Da Mina market in Black Smoke Valley

For Theodora, the top preference candidate in this shopping list is expensive. Use a cheap first gift when you only need to unlock invitations. See gift quick reference for all other characters’ preferences and purchase locations.

Bond activities before and after recruitment#

Before recruitment, use a first gift, dining, and watching plays. After recruitment, add training, Divine Service, and combat. Recruited characters have more shared activities, so you need not divide limited invitation opportunities evenly among everyone.

See the earlier activity table for single-use gains and weekly limits.

When selecting a meal, you can check the characters’ reactions directly. For world-map Feasts, first spend a spell use, then choose ingredients that do not restore spell uses so another Feast remains available. The two activities differ in participants and costs. See Feast mechanics for ingredient recovery values and bond farming steps.

Weekly gift limits and recruitment relationships#