In FFXIV, the chocobo is not just a mount: you can summon it to fight alongside you like a partner. The official FFXIV website now has a dedicated page.
You will get your chocobo as mount around level 20 by progressing through epic. To unlock it by Companion, you will need to be level 30 and do the quest 'Man's best friend' at Camp des Sentes Tranquilles (Southern Forest). The companion Chocobo has a dedicated menu. (Micro Menu -> Character -> Companion)
In this interface, you will have access to different roles and skills of your chocobo: defend, attack, heal. Just like you, he will gain experience points that will be used to improve his skills and unlock new ones.
You can define the behavior of your chocobo:
- Defend : The chocobo will take on the role of tank, drawing the attention of enemies to it. He can increase his enmity with the help of actions such as Choco-jump.
- Attack : The chocobo will focus on damage, using attacks like Choco-slash or Choco-explosion.
- treat : your chocobo will do everything possible to heal you. He uses spells such as Choco-Healing and Choco-Recovering. Having seen the latter at work during phase 3, I found that he was doing relatively well!
- Free will : the chocobo freely uses all the actions it has.
You can also customize his equipment, it does not bring any bonus, it's just for the look.
When your chocobo is by your side as a Companion, several restrictions apply:
- you cannot use the Mission Tool,
- the chocobo counts as a full-fledged teammate, unlike pets,
- you cannot call it in a dungeon.
Update 2.2 brings some new features:
- You can travel on your mount even if you have called it as a companion. When you target your companion, you now have access to the "Mount" option.
- Companions stay by your side for 30 minutes now, regardless of their level.
Although the artificial intelligence of your companion is constantly improved by the development team, it will never replace a real traveling companion! So consider grouping with a comrade. ?
