Soul Knight Taro Pet Guide: Unlock, Affinity, and Combat Role

To get Taro in Soul Knight, purchase him with gems from the pet cushion in the living room, then raise his affinity to 100 percent by feeding him meat-based items and clearing dungeon floors. Taro functions as an aggressive melee companion that disrupts enemy fire and automatically gathers dropped energy orbs, gold, and health pickups, making him especially valuable for energy-hungry heroes.

How to Unlock Taro

You can unlock Taro permanently without spending real money or waiting for event rotations.

1. Go to the pet cushion located next to the character selection circle in the main living room lobby.
2. Cycle through the available companions until you reach Taro, the Shiba Inu.
3. Spend your stored dungeon gems to complete the unlock.

Once purchased, Taro is immediately selectable for any hero on your roster.

Raising Taro's Affinity to 100 Percent

When first recruited, Taro has standard baseline companion stats and basic claw attacks. Reaching 100 percent affinity permanently unlocks his specialized combat and utility behavior.

• Feed Lobby Pet Food: Fill the feeding bowl in the main lobby daily to maintain steady, baseline affinity progress without spending dungeon gear.
• Provide Meat and Bone Items: Taro is a carnivore companion. Bringing weapons or consumable items categorized as Meat or Bone into runs yields accelerated affinity gains.
• Clear Dungeon Floors: Equipping Taro during standard dungeon runs grants passive affinity bumps upon defeating stage bosses starting from Stage 1-1.
• Avoid Plant Resources: Do not feed Taro plant-based forage items such as Bamboo or fertilizer, as non-preferred food provides diminished returns.

Combat Mechanics and Loot Collection

In combat, Taro lunges at nearby enemies with melee bite attacks that stagger basic minions and interrupt firing patterns. Because standard monsters target the nearest unit, Taro naturally absorbs stray bullets and redirects aggro away from your hero.

Taro also retrieves battlefield drops automatically. When enemies drop energy orbs, gold coins, or recovery potions, Taro runs across the room to collect them and channels the resources directly into your reserves. This keeps your energy pool full during sustained firefights without forcing you to run through active bullet streams or floor hazards.

If Taro takes too much damage, he does not die permanently. He enters an incapacitated recovery state indicated by a sleeping animation. After a short recovery window away from continuous incoming damage, Taro revives automatically with full health and re-enters the fight.

Best Hero Synergies and Run Upgrades

Taro provides the highest value to heroes that require heavy energy upkeep or brief moments of repositioning.

To improve Taro's performance during a dungeon run, prioritize the following upgrades:

• Pet & Minion Effectiveness Talent: Increases Taro's maximum health, raises his bite damage, and shortens the recovery cooldown when he is downed.
• Statue of the Paladin: Triggers a defensive shield pulse that absorbs room-wide projectiles, keeping both your hero and Taro alive in tight chambers.
• Max Armor Buffs: Improves your hero's defensive threshold so you can push aggressive rooms alongside Taro safely.

When to Switch to Alternative Pets

Taro's primary weakness is dense area-of-effect hazards. In rooms covered with continuous poison pools, lava terrain, or dense bullet barrages, his melee pathing often leads him straight into danger. Frequent knockdowns temporarily shut down his aggro control and item collection.

• Keep Taro: Best for standard floor clears, routine gem farming, and fast room navigation with high-consumption weapons.
• Switch to Bubu (Panda): Better when you need dedicated damage absorption and sustained frontline tanking against extreme bullet spreads.
• Switch to Canot (Piggle): Better when your sole objective is maximizing gold, as Canot's room-digging ability produces more direct currency than Taro's combat retrieval.