SoulArchives | SW Encyclopedia

I] What are Familiars?

Familiars (or "fams"; some old players may call them "drives") are socket items intended for equipment strengthening. Thereby, you need to go under the Socket manager to apply, remove or override a familiar.
For those who don't know what socket items are, I invite you to read the part about socket items in the Equipment Guide page.

There are 2 types:

PvP familiars (as shown on the lightbox image for "Weapon familiars") are not obtainable yet on the global server.

Gear familiars cannot be equipped on a weapon, and vice-versa.

Familiars come in several rarities (magical, rare, etc.); familiars of the same level but with different rarity will have the same name, but their range of values will differ then. Gear familiars only exist in legendary rarity at the moment.

Familiars, as common socket items, cannot be equipped nor removed while running a maze or in District 6.

Your equipment piece must be at equal or higher level than the familiar’s level to be successfully equipped on it! Moreover, legendary familiars cannot be removed after being socketed. You can only overwrite them with other legendary familiars.

You cannot equip 2 or more gear familiars of the same type on a same piece (for example, you cannot equip 2 type B familiars on the same chest, you have to socket 1 on it and the other on another piece). However, this fact doesn't apply for legendary weapon familiars.

II] How to Get Familiars?

2.1) Weapon Familiars

Weapon familiars can mostly be obtained through slayed Grutons in mazes. You can also get some level 55 familiars by purchasing a familiar random cube named "Ashy Familiar Cube", which is purchasable from Bucker TV in either District 6 or Golden Citadel Entry (category "Consumables - Special"); each cube costs 1,000 BP. They can also be purchased in the in-game market.

About the lvl 65 legendary weapon familiars ("Unknown's Desire"), these are currently only droppable in the raid ~~Hidden Hideout~~. About the lvl 72 legendary familiars ("Faint Light Desire"), introduced with the raid ~~Violent Sun~~, these can be crafted at Maxime's craft shop at Grace City..

2.2) Gear Familiars

Gear familiars can be crafted through Maxime's craft shop in either Grasscover Camp (lvl 60 familiars, i.e image below), Dipluce Horizon (lvl 65 and 68 familiars) and Grace City (lvl 72 weapon familiars + lvl 65-72 familiars re-crafting).

craft legendary familiars — "RDMG" means DMG Reduction.
"ECs" refer to Energy Converters.
Tabs names did change between GFSW and the global version, but actually display the same items.

This process requires some zenny + some fragments obtained in the corresponding raids:

~~Altar of Void~~ for lvl 60 familiars.
~~Hidden Hideout~~ for lvl 65 familiars.
~~Lunar Fall~~ for lvl 68 familiars.
~~Violent Sun~~ for lvl 72 weapon familiar.

About crafting requirements, here are details:

For lvl 60 familiars: x30 Hollow Fragments + 1,500,000 ZN
For lvl 65 familiars: x30 Scars of Sorcery + x50 Ultimate Gear Cores + 1,500,000 ZN
For lvl 68 familiars: x30 Twilight Resource + x50 Ultimate Gear Cores + 1,500,000 ZN
For lvl 72 familiars: x80 Burning Embers + x90 Ultimate Weapon Cores + 1,500,000 ZN

It is also possible to purchase all of them from the market directly.

2.3) Dismantling and Re-Crafting Gear Familiars

It is possible to dismantle legendary familiars. Dismantling them will provide some Familiar Components which are used to re-craft another new familiar. Each familiar type (Type A, Type B etc.) will provide its own type of component:

Type A Component, obtained from dismantled gear type A familiars. This one is used to craft another new type A familiars only.
Type B Component, same than for type A components.
Type C Component, same than for type A components.
Type D Component, same than for type A components.
Weapon Familiar Component, obtained from dismantled lvl 65 and 72 legendary weapon familiars. This one is used to craft another new lvl 72 weapon familiar only.

The newly crafted gear familiar using those fragments is a familiar with random effects. The minimum level of the newly crafted familiar is 65 (68 for Type D familiars).

You can craft gear familiars using those components at Maxime's craft shop in Grace City. For crafting, each familiar costs some resources (ie. image below).

this image is a bit outdated. In the craftable list of familiars, there is also the lvl 72 weapon familiar.

It is also possible to dismantle lvl 60 gear familiars to obtain components for lvl 65 familiars. However, the amount of provided components out of dismantling is lower than with lvl 65 gear familiars:

Between 15 and 20 components for dismantling lvl 60 familiars.
Between 25 and 30 components for dismantling lvl 65/68 familiars.
Missing data about lvl 65 and 72 weapon familiars.

The intervals above might not be exact since determined through only a small amount of dismantled familiars.

Familiars List

To see the familiars' list, go Here.