Bond XP Science (Eternal Bonds Trophy)

[BlackTorito]

Yesterday I spent the day grinding and doing some research on the matter, since getting stuck on Sendai Dire Shadow was boring to me, I decided to push the game on Merciless and see the numbers myself, so I'll share what I found with you to simplify the choose of grind for anyone that comes later to the party.

 

First of all, I got many ideas from the discussion thread. The originally Metraton route is discarded here, as it's already proven that is tedious and slower, the game is meant to be completed on Merciless originally, and it is best to farm there. You'll definitely need a good build and a maxed out persona, I went with the Lucifer with Diamond Dust route, since freezing is pretty useful and the Snake Shadow is week to Ice.

 

Before getting into the numbers I'll say there are two methods to this grind, the method A and B. The first one means using a script on remote play (aka efficient, brain-less and pain-less grind), check this guy's post, fair warning, if you are going for the script route, better try it right in Osaka or have a separate save there before going into NG+ since I'll spoil this right now, Billiken Statue in Osaka is the fastest. However, if you couldn't set it up like me, or just find playing the game on Merciless better the route B is for you.

 

NOTE: This numbers are based on a maxed out "Increased Bond XP" perk. It's also worth to mention that the Dire Shadows and Battle XP do not show the increased % applied on the end screen, therefore, you must apply approximatelly a +40% to each battle (f. e., Snake Dire gives 56.400 XP but with the +% is roughly ~86.000 XP, for Fratricidal Destroyer is ~140.000 out from 100.000).

 

A. Remote Play Script

This route means programming an script while doing one of the activities that gives free bond XP on mostly each city:

 

• Sendai (Fortune Reading): ~100 XP [Curse] / 1.125 [Blessing] / 3.000 [Great Blessing] =   1.408,33 Median
• Sapporo (4 Leaf-Clover): 750 [None Found] / 3.750 [Found] =    2.250 Median
• Okinawa (Sign Pray): 1.500 [Normal] / 4.500 [Great] * 0,75 =    3.750 Median (it seems the "great" pray is more usual)
• Osaka (Billiken Statue): 2.250 [Nothing] / 3.750 [Satisfied] / 7.500 [Amazing] =    4.500 Median

 

Conclusion: as raw numbers matter here, the fastest route is to not go into NG+ and do the script in Osaka to maximize your bond XP. If you already started it, you might as well enjoy the journey and push to Osaka on Merciless (it will take 5-6 hours between preparations, etc..) along the route you might as well end up with a 80+ Bond Level before reaching Osaka.

 

 

B. Dire Shadows

This route means to farm the powerful Dire Shadows over and over again. To maximize the times here, you'll first need to do a few dirty rounds to get you level to 99, maximize your persona stat's etc., so you won't reach peak potential until a few levels later. The times I show here are based on the build I went with, an Ice  Lucifer, fuse with a higher enough Black Frost to gain the Ice abilities:

 

Lvl. 99 (Lucifer) w/ Ice Necklace (Joker) = Increased damage of Ice attacks.

• Spell Master (from Alice level 92)
• Ice Amp
• Freeze Boost
• Ice Boost
• Diamond Dust
• Morning Star (this is pretty great for everything that is not weak to Ice)

 

As for the numbers, remember to apply a +40% roughly, I didn't put Bugs (Shibuya) Dire Shadow because basically the Snake is faster and gives more XP, I did want to push and see if latter Dire Shadows are worth enough to farm:

 

• Sendai Shadow = 56.400 XP (2 minutes or even less after a maxed out Lucifer/Joker by spamming Diamond Dust and All Outs). - Video
• Sapporo Shadow = 68.200 XP (around 3 minutes)
• Okinawa Shadow = 69.200 XP (3 minutes 40 seconds)
• Kyoto Shadow = 72.400 XP (3 minutes and 45 seconds, and it was weak to Ice)
• Osaka (Fratricidal Destroyer Request) = 100.000 XP (around 5 minutes or more without a Holy build)

 

Conclusion: the increasing XP on Dire Shadow seems irrelevant, its pretty low when compared to the Snake ratio which you can basically destroy brain-less in 2 minutes with a maxed out build, if you don't want to push the game more, the best ratio seems there.

 

However, The Fratricidal Destroyer might be interesting for those looking for a challenge or that want to push the game for fun, you have to reach Osaka to receive the request from Lavenza and you fight him in Sendai. The battle is more intense than with the Snake, I went with freezing him and Morning Star but even then, you'll get out of SP, it's really tanky. It would be worth to research with a Holy Build if the timing can be lowered and thus improving the XP ratio, for the time being though, the Sendai Shadow is the fastest way and the less painful.

 

 

Hope you find it useful to decide on which route to take, and of course, let me tell you, if you play Merciless for fun, and even complete the playthrough you'll probably naturally reach 99 or close to it naturally (I was 84 at Osaka with only farming a few times the Snake to maximize Lucifer, since Merciless is really painful without a maxed persona).

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by BlackTorito
Video inserted

[Jaspion_8]

Hi there

 

First of all this guide is really amazing and thank you for making this but I had some questions.

So I've done now everything in my first playthrough but my characters are not max level Joker is level 84 is it recommend to grind to level 99 before starting NG+ on merciless?

And I don't have all the persona's in the compendium yet but found it really annoying to get persona points to level your persona's have you found a way to get a lot of persona points fast?

 

Thanks 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Jaspion_8

[BlackTorito]

22 minutes ago, Jaspion_8 said:

Hi there

 

First of all this guide is really amazing and thank you for making this but I had some questions.

So I've done now everything in my first playthrough but my characters are not max level Joker is level 84 is it recommend to grind to level 99 before starting NG+ on merciless?

And I don't have all the persona's in the compendium yet but found it really annoying to get persona points to level your persona's have you found a way to get a lot of persona points fast?

 

Thanks 

Based on what I experienced, its probably better to farm Metatron a bit to get Lucifer, I went directly to Merciless and had a rough time until I got Lucifer and a decent level.

 

I had a lot of PPoints to spare to complete the compendium, but on Merciless you’ll get more PPoints from the Personas.

 

The PPoints you get are based on their level, you’ll need a lot of money to summon personas and delete them to quickly rack points.
 

The best ones before getting into Merciless are for example Lilith, Bugs, Cerberus, etc which you have to level them up first to 65-70 for fusion, then they grant roughly 100k for 30-40k money. Latter on Merciless you’ll find better deals.

[ArtMontef]

1 hour ago, Jaspion_8 said:

Hi there

 

First of all this guide is really amazing and thank you for making this but I had some questions.

So I've done now everything in my first playthrough but my characters are not max level Joker is level 84 is it recommend to grind to level 99 before starting NG+ on merciless?

And I don't have all the persona's in the compendium yet but found it really annoying to get persona points to level your persona's have you found a way to get a lot of persona points fast?

 

Thanks 

Summon high level personas and sell them. Cash should not be an issue later in the game, so it's just a matter of turning money into persona points. 

[DragonSpear2462]

Thanks for this guide BlackTorito! 

So, to reiterate what you wrote on Method A based on my situation:

If I'm already at the endgame (thus, have left Osaka), you would recommend that I start NG+ (in any difficulty beside Merciless) and play until Osaka so I can use the script, correct?

And, I don't understand your warning regarding keeping your "Cleared" save. Could you elaborate on that?

[BlackTorito]

On 23/3/2021 at 3:50 AM, DragonSpear2462 said:

Thanks for this guide BlackTorito! 

So, to reiterate what you wrote on Method A based on my situation:

If I'm already at the endgame (thus, have left Osaka), you would recommend that I start NG+ (in any difficulty beside Merciless) and play until Osaka so I can use the script, correct?

And, I don't understand your warning regarding keeping your "Cleared" save. Could you elaborate on that?

Sorry for the late reply, I need to reformulate that, since I was refering to farm bond XP before going into NG+
 

Otherwise is best to start on Merciless just in case the script doesnt work for you (I had issues with lag input and connection loss).

[soccerkeeper777]

I'm curious if you found a good guide or anything for setting up the remote play script. I can't seem to get it up and going.

[BlackTorito]

22 hours ago, soccerkeeper777 said:

I'm curious if you found a good guide or anything for setting up the remote play script. I can't seem to get it up and going.

Nope, you might ask the guy from the post I linked, he seemed to get it working.