Familiars are one of the most important progression systems in DragonSword: Awakening, granting unique movement abilities and permanent passive perks that make exploring the world of Orbis faster and more rewarding. While there are 29 familiars, they are grouped into 8 familiar categories, each unlocking shared exploration bonuses.

In this DragonSword: Awakening Familiar Tier List, we'll rank every familiar category based on its overall usefulness, ease of acquisition, and the value of its unlockable perks, helping you decide which ones to prioritize first. Whether you're exploring Orbis at home or away from your PC, OSLink lets you play your DragonSword: Awakening PC session from your mobile device, so you can continue collecting familiars and progressing with the same account wherever you are.

DragonSword: Awakening Familiar Tier List Overview

Unlike DragonSword: Awakening hero tier lists, this guide doesn't rank all 29 individual familiars separately. Instead, we rank the 8 familiar categories, because every familiar within the same category contributes to the same progression and unlocks the same permanent perks.

Once you unlock a familiar category, you don't need to keep a familiar from that category active to benefit from its perks. Unlike DragonSword's hero team-building system, unlocking a familiar or category permanently grants its movement abilities or passive exploration bonuses, so you don't need to equip a specific familiar to benefit from them.

Our rankings are based on four key factors:

• Overall exploration value – How much the perks improve travelling around the open world.

• Early-game usefulness – How quickly the category becomes valuable after unlocking two or three familiars.

• Passive perk value – How useful the permanent bonuses are for all familiars.

• Unlock difficulty – How practical it is to obtain the required familiars through normal gameplay.

Since DragonSword: Awakening is heavily focused on open-world exploration, aerial movement is generally the fastest and most efficient way to travel. As a result, familiar categories that improve flying and overall stamina naturally rank higher than those focused on swimming or other situational movement.

DragonSword: Awakening Familiar Tier List

S Tier DragonSword: Awakening Familiars

These are the best familiar categories in DragonSword: Awakening and should be your highest priority whenever possible. They offer the strongest exploration upgrades, excellent synergy with other familiar perks, and have the biggest impact on how quickly and efficiently you can travel across the open world.

Baby Dragon 

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (S Tier)

• Movement Type: Air

• Special Ability: Air Free Dash

• Unlock Requirement: Purchase the Deluxe Edition

• Recommended Priority: ★★★★★ (Unlock immediately if available)

Baby Dragon Familiars

The Baby Dragon is easily the strongest familiar category in DragonSword: Awakening, offering the best overall movement for exploring the massive open world. Unlike the Bird's Air Dash, Air Free Dash lets you boost in any direction while remaining in full control, making it feel more like limited flight than a simple dash. This makes travelling across mountains, cliffs, forests, and other difficult terrain significantly faster and more enjoyable.

What truly makes the Baby Dragon stand out is how well it scales with other familiar categories. Unlocking the Bird family's airborne stamina reduction allows you to stay in the air much longer, while Gryphon's Charged Jump gives you an easy way to gain altitude before switching to the Baby Dragon. Insect familiars also increase your overall stamina, allowing you to chain together longer boosts before needing to recover. Combined with stamina-boosting food buffs, the Baby Dragon becomes the most versatile and efficient way to explore almost every region in the game.

Pros

• Best overall exploration familiar in the game.

• Air Free Dash allows full directional control while boosting.

• Excellent synergy with Bird, Gryphon, and Insect passive perks.

• Makes travelling across the open world much faster and more enjoyable.

Cons

• Exclusive to the Deluxe Edition.

• Consumes stamina quickly without supporting perks.

• Reaches its full potential only after unlocking additional familiar category bonuses.

Birds

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (S Tier)

• Movement Type: Air

• Special Ability: Air Dash

• Best Perk: Reduces stamina consumption while moving in the air by 20% for all familiars.

• Recommended Priority: ★★★★★ (One of the first categories you should focus on)

Bird Familiars

Although the Bird family's signature Air Dash is a useful movement skill, it isn't the main reason this category ranks among the best in DragonSword: Awakening. The real value comes from its permanent passive perks, especially the reduced airborne stamina consumption and increased movement speed, which benefit all familiars once enough Birds have been unlocked.

These bonuses become even more valuable if you're using the Baby Dragon. Since Air Free Dash consumes a significant amount of stamina, reducing airborne stamina usage allows you to stay in the air longer and cover much greater distances before needing to land. The movement speed bonus is another welcome upgrade, making exploration feel noticeably faster throughout the game. While collecting all four Birds takes some effort, the long-term payoff easily makes this one of the highest-priority familiar categories.

Pros

• Excellent passive bonuses for aerial exploration.

• Great synergy with the Baby Dragon's Air Free Dash.

• Increases air movement speed and stamina efficiency for all familiars.

• One of the most valuable categories for long-distance travel.

Cons

• Collecting all four Birds takes time.

• Air Dash itself is less impressive than the passive upgrades.

• One Bird familiar is locked behind DLC.

A Tier DragonSword: Awakening Familiars

A Tier familiars provide outstanding passive bonuses that significantly improve exploration, even if they aren't quite as game-changing as the S Tier categories. They're well worth unlocking early, as their perks benefit multiple movement styles and remain useful throughout the entire game.

Insects

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (A Tier)

• Movement Type: Universal Passive

• Special Ability: Permanent Stamina Increase

• Best Perk: Increases all familiars' maximum stamina by 10% per additional unlock (up to +30%).

• Recommended Priority: ★★★★☆ (Easy to unlock and worth prioritizing early)

Insect Familiars

The Insect family doesn't unlock an exciting movement ability like the other familiar categories, but don't let that fool you. Instead, every additional Insect permanently increases the maximum stamina of all familiars, making it one of the most impactful passive upgrades in the game. More stamina means you can boost farther on land, stay airborne longer, swim greater distances, and dive for longer before running out of energy.

Another reason the Insect category ranks so highly is how accessible it is. Every Insect familiar can be obtained through normal gameplay, with no DLC required. Since you'll naturally spend time mining, solving puzzles, and exploring the world, you'll make steady progress toward unlocking these stamina bonuses without going too far out of your way. While it doesn't completely change how you travel, it makes every other familiar category noticeably better.

Pros

• Increases maximum stamina for every familiar.

• Benefits every form of exploration and movement.

• Easy to complete without purchasing DLC.

• Excellent synergy with Baby Dragon, Bird, Gryphon, and Direwolf.

Cons

• Doesn't unlock a unique movement ability.

• Improvements are passive rather than immediately noticeable.

• Requires collecting all four Insects to maximize the stamina bonus.

Gryphons

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (A Tier)

• Movement Type: Air / Vertical Mobility

• Special Ability: Charged Jump

• Best Perk: Charged Jump can be used by all familiars after the second unlock, with faster gliding and a shorter cooldown at higher tiers.

• Recommended Priority: ★★★★☆ (Excellent for exploration, especially when combined with the Baby Dragon)

Gryphon Familiars

The Gryphon family's Charged Jump provides one of the best movement abilities for vertical exploration. By charging while standing still, you can launch yourself high into the air, making it easy to reach rooftops, cliffs, towers, and other elevated locations. After unlocking the second Gryphon, every familiar gains access to Charged Jump, making it a valuable utility skill no matter which mount you prefer using.

Gryphon becomes even stronger when paired with the Baby Dragon. Instead of climbing difficult terrain, you can use Charged Jump to quickly gain altitude before switching to the Baby Dragon and chaining together Air Free Dash boosts. This combination makes travelling through mountainous regions much faster and can even reduce the need for climbing in many situations. While completing the category is more difficult due to DLC requirements and the World Boss challenge, the mobility it offers is well worth the investment.

Pros

• Excellent vertical mobility for exploration.

• Strong synergy with the Baby Dragon.

• Charged Jump becomes available to every familiar.

• Faster gliding and shorter cooldown improve overall traversal.

Cons

• Two Gryphon familiars require DLC.

• Guardian Gryphon takes time to unlock through World Bosses.

• Less impactful if you mainly travel on the ground.

DragonSword: Awakening B Tier Familiars

B Tier familiars offer solid quality-of-life improvements and are great additions once you've secured the higher-ranked categories. While their abilities are more situational, they still make climbing, ground travel, and general exploration much smoother.

Direwolves

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (B Tier)

• Movement Type: Ground

• Special Ability: Boost Jump

• Best Perk: Boost Jump becomes available to all familiars after the second unlock, with reduced Ground Boost stamina consumption and increased land movement speed.

• Recommended Priority: ★★★☆☆ (A solid mid-game category that improves ground exploration)

Direwolf Familiars

The Direwolf family focuses entirely on making ground travel faster and smoother. Its signature ability, Boost Jump, has no cooldown, allowing you to repeatedly perform long jumps while using Ground Boost. This makes travelling across open fields, crossing large gaps, and maintaining momentum much easier than simply sprinting. Once you unlock the second Direwolf, every familiar gains access to Boost Jump, making it a useful movement option regardless of which mount you're riding.

While Direwolf is one of the better ground movement categories, it doesn't quite compete with aerial traversal. As you unlock stronger air-based abilities like the Baby Dragon's Air Free Dash and Bird stamina perks, you'll naturally spend less time travelling on the ground. Even so, Direwolf remains a reliable option for players who haven't unlocked those upgrades yet, and its land stamina reduction and movement speed bonuses are always welcome.

Pros

• Boost Jump has no cooldown.

• Excellent for covering long distances on land.

• Makes crossing gaps and rough terrain much easier.

• Ground stamina reduction and movement speed are useful passive bonuses.

Cons

• Eventually overshadowed by aerial movement.

• Three familiars require DLC.

• Provides little benefit during vertical exploration.

Squirrel

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (B Tier)

• Movement Type: Climbing

• Special Ability: Climbing Jump

• Best Perk: Climbing Jump becomes available to all familiars after the second unlock, followed by reduced climbing stamina consumption and faster climbing speed.

• Recommended Priority: ★★★☆☆ (Useful quality-of-life upgrades, but not essential early on)

Squirrel Familiars

The Squirrel family is built around climbing, giving you access to Climbing Jump, which lets you leap upward while scaling walls. Initially, the ability only works while riding a Squirrel, but after unlocking the second familiar, every familiar can use it. This makes climbing castles, cliffs, and mountain walls noticeably faster and less tedious.

While these perks are certainly helpful, climbing becomes less important as your collection grows. The combination of Gryphon's Charged Jump and the Baby Dragon's Air Free Dash can often bypass climbs entirely by launching into the air and flying to your destination instead. Because of this, Squirrel remains a useful quality-of-life category rather than a top priority, although the climbing stamina and movement speed bonuses are still appreciated during exploration.

Pros

• Makes climbing much faster and more convenient.

• Climbing Jump becomes available to every familiar.

• Helpful when exploring castles and mountainous regions.

• Easy to obtain two familiars through normal gameplay.

Cons

• Primarily a quality-of-life upgrade.

• Often replaced by Gryphon and Baby Dragon movement combinations.

• Climbing is a relatively small part of overall exploration.

C Tier DragonSword: Awakening Familiars

These familiar categories mainly focus on water traversal and are the lowest priority for most players. They're still worth collecting eventually—especially if you enjoy completing exploration objectives, fishing, or hunting underwater treasure—but they have a much smaller impact on overall gameplay than the higher-ranked categories.

Sky wolves

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ (C Tier)

• Movement Type: Underwater

• Special Ability: Underwater Dash

• Best Perk: Reduces underwater stamina consumption and increases underwater movement speed for all familiars.

• Recommended Priority: ★★☆☆☆ (Unlock naturally while progressing through the game)

Sky Wolf Familiars

The Sky Wolf family focuses entirely on underwater exploration. Underwater Dash helps you move much faster while diving, making it easier to reach submerged treasure chests and collect underwater resources before running out of stamina. Unlike surface swimming, underwater exploration actually has meaningful rewards, making this category more valuable than the Cat family.

Another advantage is how easy these familiars are to obtain. Two can be unlocked through normal gameplay without much effort, meaning you'll naturally gain access to the first few underwater perks simply by progressing through the game. Although underwater exploration isn't something you'll do constantly, it's nice having these upgrades ready whenever you need them.

Pros

• Best familiar category for underwater exploration.

• Useful for treasure hunting and gathering underwater resources.

• Easy to unlock early through normal gameplay.

• Underwater stamina reduction makes diving much more comfortable.

Cons

• Limited use outside underwater areas.

• Doesn't improve general world exploration.

• Outclassed by air-focused categories for overall traversal.

Cats

Overall Rank: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ (C Tier)

• Movement Type: Surface Swimming

• Special Ability: Swim Dash

• Best Perk: Reduces swimming stamina consumption and increases swimming speed for all familiars.

• Recommended Priority: ★☆☆☆☆ (Save for later unless you frequently explore water)

Cat Familiars

The Cat family improves movement on the water's surface through Swim Dash, allowing you to quickly travel in a straight line. While the ability works as intended, it's held back by one major limitation—you can't freely change direction while dashing. Once activated, you'll continue moving straight until the dash ends or you hit an obstacle, making it much less flexible than aerial movement abilities.

Surface swimming also isn't required very often in the current version of DragonSword: Awakening. Most areas can be crossed more efficiently using aerial movement, and when water exploration is necessary, it's usually underwater where the Sky Wolf family offers more practical benefits. As a result, the Cat category is best viewed as an optional quality-of-life upgrade rather than a priority unlock.

Pros

• Improves surface swimming speed.

• Helpful when exploring large lakes and rivers.

• Useful for players who enjoy fishing.

Cons

• Swim Dash only travels in a straight line.

• Surface swimming is rarely required.

• Less useful than Sky Wolf for water exploration.

• One of the lowest-priority familiar categories.

DragonSword: Awakening Best Familiar Recommendations

If you're wondering which familiar to unlock first, the answer depends on how you like to explore the world. While every familiar category eventually provides useful permanent perks, some have a much bigger impact on gameplay than others.

If you're planning your unlock order, we recommend prioritizing Bird, Insect, and Gryphon first if you're playing the standard edition. If you own the Deluxe Edition, the Baby Dragon should become your primary exploration familiar, with Bird and Insect perks unlocked as early as possible to maximize its potential.

Conclusion  

Choosing the right familiar categories early can make a huge difference to your exploration experience in DragonSword: Awakening. Prioritizing Bird, Insect, and Gryphon—or the Baby Dragon if you own the Deluxe Edition—will give you the biggest boost to world traversal, while the remaining categories can be unlocked naturally as you progress. Since every familiar contributes permanent progression to its category, collecting them all is still worthwhile, but knowing which ones to prioritize first will save you time and make exploring Orbis much more enjoyable. Whether you're farming collectibles, hunting world bosses for rare familiars, or exploring new regions during a short break, OSLink lets you access your DragonSword: Awakening PC game from your mobile device, so your adventure can continue wherever you are.