Sword x Staff: New Companion and Relic Pull Priority Guide

In Sword x Staff, unlock a single copy of the new companion before spending currency on the featured relic banner. The companion delivers immediate combat performance through an active vulnerability debuff and grants permanent, account-wide possession stats that apply even when the unit is benched. Chasing duplicate relic copies yields diminishing returns for non-spending accounts compared to unlocking base unit utility.

Splitting resources evenly across both banners risks leaving your account without key activation milestones. Follow this sequence to maximize your resource efficiency:

Summon the base companion: Spend tickets on the companion banner until you acquire the first copy. This unlocks the unit's active rotation, talent tree, and passive possession attributes.
Unlock the base relic: Shift pulls to the relic banner to secure a 0-star copy. This adds the relic to your resonance board and activates its baseline stacking buff.
Stop or evaluate reserves: Halt summoning unless you possess enough currency to hit the next major companion star threshold. Do not pull for duplicate relic awakenings on a limited budget.

Relic Awakening Tiers and Stopping Points

The featured relic provides stacking damage modifiers during sustained encounters like guild bosses and rift dungeons. Use these supported thresholds to decide when to stop:

Relic Tier	Primary Unlock Effect	Recommended Target
Base (0-Star)	Unlocks core passive effect and base flat ATK and HP stats	All active players (F2P stopping point)
Tier 1 Awakening	Increases damage proc frequency and adds resonance board points	Competitive PvE and PvP players
Tier 3 Awakening	Unlocks team-wide stat amplification during burst damage phases	High spenders targeting top leaderboards

Progressing past base activation requires duplicate shards. For players without surplus summoning tickets, stopping at the 0-star unlock secures the relic's primary combat modifier without depleting reserves for future banners.

Companion Mechanics and Team Synergy

The companion functions across two distinct systems: active deployment and passive account possession.

Deployed combat: In the primary deployment slot, the companion attacks frequently and applies vulnerability debuffs to enemies, amplifying team burst damage during boss stagger windows.
Passive possession: Regardless of whether the companion is deployed or benched, owning the unit permanently grants account-wide Attack, Critical Strike Rate, and Armor Penetration.

Class Synergies

Mages and High-Crit Fighters: Gain the highest value from this pairing. The companion's vulnerability window aligns directly with burst rotations, while the relic's stacking effects prevent damage loss during long skill cooldowns.
Knights: Benefit primarily from the companion's passive possession stats, gaining defensive padding (HP and DEF) for Underworld and Abyss stages without needing to deploy the companion actively.
Sages: Hybrid builds utilize the relic's sustained combat buff to maintain damage output during dungeon clears without disrupting required healing rotations.

Long-Term Investment Rules

Free-to-play accounts should secure base activations and rely on progressive farming rather than premium pulls for upgrades:

Rely on event milestone shops: Seasonal events provide companion upgrade tokens and relic shards through reward exchanges, allowing you to awaken items over time without spending premium gems.
Preserve universal materials: Do not convert universal progression resources into temporary banner pulls unless the exchange guarantees you hit a specific pity threshold.