Monster Hunter Outlanders Bond Guide: How to Level Up Bonds and Get More Resonance Crystals

Bond Levels are an important progression system in Monster Hunter Outlanders (MHO) that you should start working on as early as possible. Although it might look like a simple character friendship feature, leveling up Bonds can reward you with several useful items, including Resonance Crystals, which are needed to upgrade your character’s Keepsake abilities.

The main problem is that Bond EXP is limited by a daily gift system. You can only give five gifts to each character every day, making this a time-gated activity. If you ignore it for too long, you could miss out on valuable resources that would otherwise help you improve your characters without spending premium currency.

What Are Bond Levels in Monster Hunter Outlanders?

Bond Levels are a character progression feature that allows you to build relationships with playable characters in Monster Hunter Outlanders. You can access this system through the Adventure menu, where you will find the Bonds section. From there, you can select different characters and increase their Bond Levels by giving them gifts.

Keep in mind that your main character, the Fated Adventurer, cannot participate in this system. However, other characters can increase their Bonds and unlock different rewards as their levels improve.

Each character has their own Bond progression, meaning you should work on multiple characters instead of focusing on just one. As their Bond Levels increase, you will unlock additional rewards, including character-related items and important upgrade materials.

Why Should You Level Up Bonds Early?

The biggest reason to start increasing Bond Levels early is the Resonance Crystal reward. This material is particularly important because it is required to upgrade certain Keepsake abilities through the Engrave system.

When you open your character menu and select Engrave, you will find several upgrade nodes that require Resonance Crystals. Some nodes already need these materials at relatively early progression stages, and higher-level upgrades may require even more.

This makes Resonance Crystals a limited resource that can slow down your character progression if you do not collect enough of them.

Here are the main reasons why you should prioritize Bond Levels:

• Get Resonance Crystals: These materials are needed to unlock and upgrade certain Keepsake abilities.

• Improve Multiple Characters: Having more upgrade materials makes it easier to develop different characters.

• Unlock Additional Rewards: Increasing Bonds also provides other useful items along the way.

• Save Premium Currency: You can obtain these materials through normal gameplay instead of immediately purchasing them from the shop.

There are also paid packs that offer Resonance Crystals, but spending premium currency is not necessary if you are willing to work on your Bond progression every day.

How to Increase Bond Levels in Monster Hunter Outlanders

The main way to increase a character’s Bond Level is by giving them gifts. Every character has different gift preferences, so you should pay attention to which items they like before spending your available daily gifts.

You can give each character up to five gifts per day. This limit makes Bond progression time-gated, so missing several days means losing opportunities to collect additional Bond EXP.

The best approach is to use gifts that match each character’s preferences. Giving a character an item they particularly like provides more Bond EXP than choosing a random gift.

Give Characters Their Favorite Gifts

One of the most important things to understand is that characters have different gift preferences. Giving them the correct items will reward you with more Bond EXP.

For example, certain characters prefer meat-related items. Once you discover their favorite gift category, you can focus on collecting and giving those items instead of wasting gifts on things they do not particularly like.

You can identify a character’s preferred gifts by checking their Bond information. However, if you have not discovered their preferences yet, you can try giving them an available item first.

Once the first Bond information is unlocked, you will be able to see more details about what they like. Characters can also show a thumbs-up icon when you select a preferred gift.

Here is how you can make the most of this system:

1. Open the Adventure menu.

2. Select the Bonds section.

3. Choose the character you want to increase your Bond Level with.

4. Check their preferred gift items.

5. Select gifts that match their preferences.

6. Repeat the process until you reach the daily gift limit.

Prioritizing favorite gifts is important because it allows you to get the highest possible Bond EXP from your limited daily attempts.

Daily Gift Limit and How Much Bond EXP You Can Get

As mentioned earlier, every character has a daily limit of five gifts. However, giving the correct gifts can make a significant difference in how much Bond EXP you earn.

Based on the current system, giving a character a preferred purple-quality gift rewards 1,500 Bond EXP. Since you can give five gifts per day, you can earn up to 7,500 Bond EXP from one character daily.

Here is the breakdown:

• Gifts per character: 5 daily.

• Bond EXP per favorite purple gift: 1,500.

• Maximum daily Bond EXP: 7,500 per character.

This means you should avoid wasting your daily gift attempts on random items once you already know what a character likes.

If you have several characters available, make sure to distribute your gifts across them. Since every character has their own Bond progression and rewards, leveling up multiple characters can provide more benefits in the long run.

Unlock Bond Stories for Additional Rewards

Another benefit of increasing Bond Levels is unlocking character stories. As you reach certain milestones, you can access additional story content and receive rewards.

These stories also provide more background information about the characters, giving you a better understanding of their personalities and relationships.

More importantly, completing these Bond milestones can return some useful resources. This means your investment in gifts does not only provide Bond EXP but can also reward you with additional items as you progress.

Make sure to check each character’s Bond progression regularly so you do not miss any unlocked rewards.

Should You Focus on One Character or Multiple Characters?

It is generally better to increase the Bond Levels of multiple characters rather than putting all your gifts into a single character.

Although focusing on one character might help you reach higher Bond milestones sooner, the system provides rewards through individual character progression. By developing several characters, you can work toward unlocking more rewards across your roster.

You can check your progress through the Bonds menu to see which characters are close to reaching their next milestone.

For example, you might have one character at Bond Level 5, another at Level 4, and several others at Level 2 or 3. Keeping everyone progressing is a good way to make use of your daily gifts.

Also, remember that unused gift items are already stored in your inventory. Rather than letting them sit there, use them to increase character Bonds whenever possible.

Final Tips for Farming Bond EXP in MHO

Bond Levels might not seem like an important feature when you first start playing Monster Hunter Outlanders, but they become more valuable as you progress toward the endgame. Resonance Crystals are especially important because they are required for certain Keepsake upgrades. Since the daily gift limit prevents you from farming unlimited Bond EXP whenever you want, starting early is the best way to avoid falling behind.

Here are some tips to remember:

• Start leveling up Bonds as soon as the feature becomes available.

• Give each character five gifts every day.

• Prioritize purple-quality gifts that characters like.

• Check character preferences before using your gifts.

• Work on multiple characters to unlock more rewards.

• Claim rewards from unlocked Bond stories.

• Save your premium currency instead of immediately buying Resonance Crystal packs.

The most important thing is consistency. Even if you only spend a few minutes every day giving gifts, the rewards will gradually add up. Since Resonance Crystals are needed for character progression, ignoring the Bond system could make upgrading multiple characters more difficult later in Monster Hunter Outlanders.