Gaming Guide

Fisch: How to Obtain the Budling Companion

Budling spawns in the Living Garden, and it only joins your Companion Satchel if you escort it across the bridges without touching water.

Budling spawns in the Living Garden, and it only joins your Companion Satchel if you escort it across the bridges without touching water.

Budling is the newest companion in Fisch, added in Version 2.01 alongside three new fish and a rod added to the Wish of the Sky menu. You cannot buy it, fish it up, or feed it. Instead, you have to find a small sprout wandering the Living Garden with a seed in hand and walk it home.

Quick answer: Go to the Living Garden, find Budling near the large blue and red flowers, interact with it, then escort it across the side bridges to the garden plot at the back of the area. Do not let it touch water, and do not outrun it. Budling is added to your Companion Satchel automatically the moment you reach the plot.


Requirements before you start

You need the Companion Satchel, which unlocks at level 30 and opens with the C key. Without it, you have nowhere for Budling to go. You also need access to the Living Garden, since that is the only place the sprout appears.

Nothing else is required. There is no bait, no rod, no totem, and no currency cost attached to the escort.


Budling spawn location in the Living Garden

Budling wanders the Living Garden holding a randomly chosen seed. The most reliable place to spot it is near the oversized blue and red flowers, where it drifts slowly around the open ground. It is small and moves at a walking pace, so scan low rather than looking for a marker.

The spawn is not guaranteed on every server. Freshly created servers have produced the best results so far, and there is no known way to force the sprout to appear. If the garden is empty, leave and join a different server, then check the flower area again.

The Living Garden flower bed in Fisch where the small sprout companion wanders
The stretch of the Living Garden around the large blue and red flowers, where the sprout usually turns up.

How to escort Budling to the garden plot

Walk right up to Budling until the interaction prompt appears, then talk to it. It explains that it needs to plant its seed, and the escort begins from wherever the sprout is standing.
The on-screen Talk prompt highlighted while standing next to a character in Fisch
Get close enough and the Talk prompt lights up, which is what starts the escort.
Move off slowly and keep the sprout in frame behind you. Budling follows your character, but only within a short leash, so sprinting ahead immediately is the fastest way to lose it.
Take the side bridges rather than cutting through the water. Any contact with water sends Budling back to the start of the escort, which means a full walk all over again.
Player character moving toward a highlighted objective in the Living Garden
Stick to solid ground and the bridge routes as you lead the sprout deeper into the garden.
Continue toward the back of the area and stop every so often to check that the sprout is still trailing you. Pausing costs a few seconds. Restarting costs the whole route.
Step onto the wooden garden plot at the rear of the Living Garden. There is no claim button and no second conversation. Arriving with Budling in tow finishes the job.

How to confirm Budling unlocked

The companion is granted the instant you reach the plot. Press C to open the Companion Satchel and Budling should be listed there, ready to equip. Its entry reads:

A sleepy sprout with a nose for nectar, happiest when the garden’s in bloom and the night is kind.

If the satchel is empty after the walk, one of three things happened. The sprout touched water and reset, you drifted too far and it stopped following, or it never spawned in that server to begin with.


What Budling does once equipped

Equipped, Budling trots along behind you like any other companion, and it looks much like the other plant characters in the Living Garden. Its eyes glow blue once night falls, which lines up with the nighttime reference in its description. A Sundial Totem is the quick way to swap the clock over and see it.

The sprout companion standing beside the player at night with glowing blue eyes
At night, the companion’s eyes light up blue while it follows you around.

The developers have said Budling carries passives that no other companion offers, but the specifics have not been detailed. Extended casting sessions have not surfaced an obvious effect beyond the visual change, and a widely repeated player claim that it raises Divine chances remains unconfirmed.


Leveling Budling from 1 to 10

Companions start at level 1 and cap at level 10, and levels scale whatever passive the companion has. Budling earns Companion XP the same way every other companion does, so simply fishing with it equipped does most of the work.

ActionCompanion XP
Catching a fish+10
Interacting with the companion+5 (max 10 between catches)
Walking it for 10 seconds+1 (max 20 between catches)
Using a Companion Candy+1,500

Reaching level 10 takes 52,076 total Companion XP, with the jump from 9 to 10 alone costing 23,572.


The hard part here is not the walk, it is the search. Once the sprout actually appears in your server, the escort takes under a minute as long as you stay patient, stay on the bridges, and keep looking over your shoulder.