Monsters are more than just enemies in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma—they’re also potential allies, workers, mounts, and money-makers. While they may start out as foes, with the right approach, you can turn them into trusted companions who help your village thrive.
This guide breaks down everything you need to know about befriending monsters, collecting their produce, and riding them across the world.
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🤝 How to Befriend Monsters
You’ll unlock the ability to befriend monsters once you reach Autumn Village and gain access to building barns. From here, the process goes like this:
Step-by-Step Befriending Guide:
- Use the Dance of Bonds Equip the Sacred Plum Branch and use the Dance of Bonds in front of a monster. If successful, a smiley face will appear above its head.
- Defeat the Monster After charming it, defeat the monster in battle. Wait for it to revive, then approach and interact with it.
- Give It a Gift Select “Befriend with a Gift” and try giving an item the monster likes. If you get it right, you’ll see a heart. Some monsters need multiple gifts. If a gray icon appears after the heart, try again with a different item.
- Success = Flowers Once you succeed, flowers will appear above the monster’s head. You can now name your new buddy and assign them to a barn.
⚠️ Tip: Larger monsters like Buffamoos take up two slots in a barn. Make sure there’s space before you go monster hunting.
🎁 Gift-Giving Tips
Gift success seems to be a bit RNG-based—even the same item might work one time and not the next. Try common monster drops, crops, or food items. Green grass, herbs, or rice balls often work early on.
Also Read, How Long Does Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Take to Beat?
🧺 How to Collect Monster Produce
Once befriended and housed in a barn, monsters will produce items daily. These can include:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Monster fluff
- Horns
- Other crafting or cooking materials
Collecting Methods:
- Manual Collection: Go to the brown basket by the barn gate to collect the day’s produce. It goes straight to your inventory (or storage if you’re full).
- Automated Collection: Open the Villagers menu, assign someone to the Herding job, and select the barn. They’ll gather produce automatically and sell it through the Produce Box each day.
Over time, this becomes a reliable income stream—especially when combined with crops and crafting.
🐎 How to Ride Monsters
Not every monster is rideable—but the ones that are can make exploration faster and even help in combat.
How to Check if a Monster is Rideable:
- Go to the Villagers menu.
- Select Barns (press X on Xbox, Square on PlayStation, or Y on Switch).
- Highlight a monster—if you see a green check next to Rideable, they’re good to go.
How to Ride:
- Open the Party menu.
- Add the rideable monster to a party slot from the Monsters tab.
- In any open-world area, walk up to your monster and press Y/Triangle/X to mount.
While mounted, you can:
- Move faster through the world
- Use unique monster attacks during combat
It’s both a mobility boost and a tactical combat feature—especially useful for traversing large wilderness zones.
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