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Sword x Staff Companion Upgrade Guide

Class-stat matching and level breakpoint priority for upgrading Companions. Knight wants Block, DPS wants Crit Rate, Sage wants Accuracy or Healing Boost. The universal upgrade order (everyone to L20, then class-matching to L50, then L70, then L100) is the same for F2P and mega whales. Includes the L20/L50/L70/L100 stat law (Healing Boost is L100-only) and the L60 skin unlock note.

By EOG ·Analyst Team
May 22, 2026
6 min read

Source Stat-law breakdown built on top of QY Maple's "All Budget Universal Lazy Player Companion Guide" on YouTube. Worth a watch for the in-game footage and Maple's per-stat spreadsheet linked in his channel description.

Same Upgrade Order, Every Spending Tier

Companions in Sword x Staff hand out stats on hard breakpoints (level 20, 50, 70, 100), and the breakpoints are predictable: Level 70 repeats the Level 20 stat, Level 100 repeats the Level 50 stat. Match the stats to your class trait, and the priority order is identical whether you are F2P or a maxed-out mega whale. Spending more does not change the order; it only changes how fast you complete it.

TL;DR

  • Match Companion stats to your class. Knight: Block › Crit Rate. Sorcerer / Duelist: Crit Rate › Accuracy. Sage: Accuracy › Crit Rate or Healing Boost.
  • Offensive Companions: DMG Boost at L20 › Crit Rate or Accuracy at L50.
  • Defensive Companions: DMG Reduce at L20 › Block, Crit Resist, or Healing Boost at L50.
  • L70 grants the same stat as L20. L100 grants the same stat as L50. Healing Boost is L100-only.
  • Universal order: everyone to L20 › class-matching ones to L50 › repeat for L70 and L100. Same order for whales and F2P.
  • Skins unlock at L60. Push to 60 only for skins you want.
  • Give gifts only to Companions that prefer them. Tap the in-game exclamation mark to check.

A short, opinionated guide on which Companions to upgrade and how far. The math is the same regardless of your spending: every account benefits from the same priority order because Companion stat unlocks land at hard breakpoints that reward focused leveling over spreading.

Golden Rule: Match Stats To Class

The Companions you prioritise upgrading should always match the stats of your active class. Stat priority by class:

Per-class Companion stat priority
Knight Block › Crit Rate. Defensive Companions are the priority. Knights scale on Block, and the Block ceiling is hard to reach from gear alone.
Sorcerer Crit Rate › Accuracy. Offensive Companions. Sorcerer's trait grants Accuracy already, so a small top-up from Companions is enough; Crit Rate is the limiting damage stat.
Duelist Crit Rate › Accuracy. Same as Sorcerer. Duelist trait already provides Crit Rate, so stacking more from Companions compounds it.
Sage Accuracy › Crit Rate (DPS / DoT build) or Healing Boost (healer build). Sage's trait covers all base attributes, so the Companion picks are role-dependent. A Healer Sage waits for L100 because Healing Boost only unlocks there.

Tap the exclamation mark on a Companion in-game to confirm its exact stat profile before committing upgrade materials.

The Stat Law (Offensive vs Defensive)

Every Companion falls into one of two categories. The category is identifiable from the L20 stat alone.

Companion stat-tier pattern
Level 20 First unlock. DMG Boost → offensive Companion. DMG Reduce → defensive Companion. Repeats at L70.
Level 50 Offensive: Crit Rate or Accuracy. Defensive: Block, Crit Resist, or Healing Boost (Healing Boost is L100-only -- see below). Repeats at L100.
Level 60 Skin unlock. No stat change.
Level 70 Repeats the L20 stat. DMG Boost / DMG Reduce stacked again.
Level 100 Repeats the L50 stat. Healing Boost only ever appears at L100 -- a healer Companion you spotted at L50 with a healing-flavoured stat will not pay out the headline Healing Boost until 100.

Universal Upgrade Order

Same order whether you are F2P, light spender, or a maxed-out mega whale. The only difference is how long each phase takes.

  1. Everyone to L20. No exceptions. This is the floor that unlocks the first stat grant on every Companion you own. The marginal value of bringing a fourth Companion to L20 is higher than pushing your main from L50 to L70.
  2. Class-matching Companions to L50. Once the L20 floor is universal, push the ones whose L50 stat matches your class trait. This is where the class-relevant stat lands and where the Companion starts pulling its weight.
  3. Repeat the pattern for L70. Bring your active roster toward L70 for the second offensive / defensive stat tier. This is the long mid-grind for most accounts.
  4. Repeat for L100. Mega-whale endpoint. Required for Healer Sage builds because Healing Boost only unlocks here.

Why mega whales follow the same order. Even if your endpoint is everyone at L100, the order of operations still matters because L20 is a small material investment for a guaranteed stat grant across the whole roster. Skipping the L20 floor on the way to one L100 main wastes the per-Companion contribution for the entire duration of the climb. Maple's own admission in the source video: "I'm going to max everyone out to level 100 anyway" and he still follows this exact order.

Skins And Cosmetics

Skins unlock at L60. No combat benefit. If a Companion you do not actively use has a skin you want, that is the one valid reason to push them past their L50 stat unlock outside the universal order. Otherwise skip past L50 and move on.

Gifts

Each Companion has preferred gifts. Giving the right gift accelerates the bonding track; giving wrong gifts wastes consumables that could have gone to another Companion.

  • Check before gifting. Tap the exclamation mark on the Companion's detail page to see which gifts they prefer.
  • Stockpile preferred gifts. If a Companion prefers a gift type that drops commonly, hoard the surplus instead of dumping on lower-priority Companions.
  • Do not gift Companions outside your upgrade order. The same priority rules apply: gift the L20-floor universally, then concentrate on the class-matching ones.

Common Mistakes

  • Pushing one Companion to L100 before the rest hit L20. The L20 floor compounds across the roster. Bring the floor up first.
  • Upgrading offensive Companions on a Knight. Knights do not scale on Crit Rate or DMG Boost the way DPS classes do. Stay defensive.
  • Pushing a healer Sage Companion to L70 hoping for Healing Boost. Healing Boost is L100-only. L70 just repeats the L20 grant.
  • Spending gifts without checking preferences. The exclamation mark exists for a reason.
  • Treating the "lazy" label as F2P-only. The order is identical for whales. Following it means whales reach the L100 endpoint faster, not later.

Maple's Spreadsheet

Maple maintains a spreadsheet that categorises every Companion by L20 type (offensive / defensive) and L50 stat, so you can shortlist class-matching upgrade targets without clicking through each Companion's detail page in-game. Available via his Discord (link in his YouTube video description).