Familiars are the traversal companions in DragonSword: Awakening, and they open up shortly after you join Johnny’s Mercenaries early in the story. They let you glide, dash underwater, and climb across Orbis, so grabbing the right ones early turns long detours into quick shortcuts. There are 29 in total, split across eight types, and each one has a fixed condition you must meet before you can claim it.
Quick answer: Meet a familiar’s listed requirement, then open the Familiar Codex and claim it there. A few unlock automatically, 11 are DLC-exclusive, and the Brave Baby Dragon comes only with the Deluxe Pack.
How familiar unlocks work
The system becomes available once you join Johnny’s Mercenaries. From that point, you can summon familiars to help you move around the open world. They carry no combat stats, so their entire value is traversal and the shared type passives.
Aside from the handful that arrive automatically, every familiar is claimed through the Familiar Codex after you finish its requirement. Some ask for currency, some want you to grind an activity like mining or opening chests, and several are handed out as you climb the Mercenary Corps ranks. The rank ladder runs Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Veteran, and Elite.
You know an unlock worked when the familiar appears in the Familiar Codex as claimable, and claiming it adds it to your collection. If a familiar is not showing up, the requirement tied to it has not been fully met yet.
Traversal skill for each familiar type
The traversal skill is tied to the type, not the individual familiar. Any Cat gives the same movement as any other Cat, so you pick a type based on the movement you need. Insects are the exception and carry no skill at all.
| Type | Traversal skill |
|---|---|
| Insect | None |
| Squirrel | Climbing Jump |
| Cat | Swim Dash |
| Bird | Air Dash |
| Sky Wolf | Underwater Dash |
| Direwolf | Boost Jump |
| Gryphon | Charged Jump |
| Dragon | Air Free Dash |
Every familiar and its unlock requirement
Here is the full roster of 29 familiars, the type each one belongs to, and exactly what you need to do to add it to your collection.
| Familiar | Type | How to unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Robust Stag Beetle | Insect | Automatically unlocked during Chapter 01 |
| Fierce Rhinoceros Beetle | Insect | 100 Adventure’s Emblems at the Familiar Codex |
| Cowardly Firefly | Insect | Mine 300 times |
| Red Ladybug | Insect | Clear 40 Puzzles |
| Cotton Flying Squirrel | Squirrel | DLC-exclusive |
| Acorn Flying Squirrel | Squirrel | Defeat 100 squirrels |
| Viola Flying Squirrel | Squirrel | DLC-exclusive |
| Marple Flying Squirrel | Squirrel | Reach Intermediate Mercenary Corps |
| Orchid Wing Cat | Cat | DLC-exclusive |
| Mist Wing Cat | Cat | Craft 100 equipment pieces |
| Shadow Wing Cat | Cat | Open 300 Treasure Chests |
| Dawn Wing Cat | Cat | Reach Advanced Mercenary Corps |
| Refreshing Canary | Bird | Complete 20 Mini-Games |
| Timid Hummingbird | Bird | DLC-exclusive |
| Diligent Sparrow | Bird | Collect 150 Bird Eggs |
| Bright Crowtit | Bird | Reach Novice Mercenary Corps |
| Frosty Sky Wolf | Sky Wolf | DLC-exclusive |
| Sandstorm Sky Wolf | Sky Wolf | 300,000 Gold at the Familiar Codex |
| Gale Sky Wolf | Sky Wolf | DLC-exclusive |
| Snowstorm Sky Wolf | Sky Wolf | Complete The Captain’s Scheme quest |
| Stormy Direwolf | Direwolf | Reach Veteran Mercenary Corps |
| Abyssal Direwolf | Direwolf | DLC-exclusive |
| Flame Spirit Fox | Direwolf | DLC-exclusive |
| War Direwolf | Direwolf | DLC-exclusive |
| Guardian Gryphon | Gryphon | Defeat World Bosses 30 times |
| Holy Knightage Griffon | Gryphon | DLC-exclusive |
| Exploration Squad Griffon | Gryphon | DLC-exclusive |
| Knightage Griffon | Gryphon | Reach Elite Mercenary Corps |
| Brave Baby Dragon | Dragon | Deluxe Pack-exclusive |
How type passives work
Owning more than one familiar of the same type unlocks that type’s passive for your account. Once you hold two of a type, keeping a single familiar of that type in your party grants its movement skill to every familiar in the party.
For example, once you have two Direwolves, a single Direwolf in your party lets all of your equipped familiars use Boost Jump. Two Sky Wolves work the same way and share Underwater Dash. This is why chasing duplicates within a type pays off, even though each familiar only shows one skill on its own.
The Brave Baby Dragon is the one exception. It does not follow the passive rule and only provides its own Air Free Dash.
Which familiars to unlock first
Every familiar counts toward your collection, but a few give you the most exploration value early because their requirements come naturally through play.
- Bright Crowtit grants Air Dash and unlocks at Novice Mercenary Corps, making it the fastest early movement upgrade.
- Refreshing Canary is a second Air Dash option from completing 20 Mini-Games, which also pushes you toward the two-of-a-type passive for Birds.
- Marple Flying Squirrel gives Climbing Jump at Intermediate Mercenary Corps for scaling cliffs and ledges.
- Stormy Direwolf provides Boost Jump at Veteran Mercenary Corps to clear wider gaps.
- Snowstorm Sky Wolf unlocks Underwater Dash after The Captain’s Scheme quest, which opens up submerged caves and underwater routes.
Note: The Mercenary Corps promotions, plus everyday activities like mining, chest-opening, and puzzle-clearing, come as a side effect of normal play. Prioritize those over the currency and boss-kill goals if you want the fastest coverage of movement skills.
DLC and Deluxe Pack familiars
Not everything can be earned through play. Eleven familiars are DLC-exclusive, spread across the Squirrel, Cat, Bird, Sky Wolf, Direwolf, and Gryphon types. They cover traversal skills you can already reach through free unlocks, so their main use is adding variety and helping you hit the two-of-a-type threshold for passives.
The Brave Baby Dragon stands apart. It is the only Dragon-type familiar, it grants Air Free Dash for the freest aerial movement in the game, and it comes only with the Deluxe Pack. If you want it, you can pick the Deluxe edition from the game’s Steam store page.
If you are working toward the full set of 29, the practical order is simple. Clear the Mercenary Corps ranks and the activity milestones as you play, use the Familiar Codex to claim each one the moment its requirement is met, and treat the DLC and Deluxe familiars as optional extras rather than gaps in your traversal kit.
