Like any proper turn-based roleplaying game, your companions are some of the most interesting characters in the game, and as you adventure together, you’ll end up growing closer to them and learning more about them. While some RPGs relegate this aspect of the game to vibes, in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth it’s quantified by a Bond Level system - certain actions will earn you Bond Points with your companions and ultimately increase their Bond Level, which has various gameplay and narrative rewards. This page will cover the basics of leveling each character’s Bond Level via various means like fighting alongside each other in combat, giving gifts, triggering Walk & Talks, going to restaurants, and more.

• What is the fastest way to increase Bond Level in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?: Visiting clubs like the Dolls & Devils Playhouse in Honolulu and paying hostesses and ordering food will net you between +20 and +100 Bond Points per character. It’s the fastest way to earn Bond Points, but it’s fairly expensive (expect to spend thousands of dollars per visit, especially if you want good odds of ensuring you make good gains.

What is Bond Level in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?¶

Whenever you take actions that improve group solidarity of cohesiveness, you’ll be informed that your Bond Level with your companions has improved. The activities that reward Bond Points are numerous to the point where saying “just play the game” isn’t an entirely invalid way to summarize this page, but there are more targeted ways of boosting Bond Level, and there are significant gameplay incentives that may make one want to quickly increase a companion’s Bond Level.

While it may cheapen things a bit to reduce Ichiban and Kiryu’s budding friendships to a mere numbers game, it’s at least not obtuse about what’s happening and why. You can check your Bond Level by selecting the aptly named “Bonds” option in the menu, which not only tells you each character’s current Bond Level, but also their progress towards the next Bond Level and any conditions that may be limiting further progress:

• Take your bond with [character] to the next level!: You’re able to progress Bond Level normally.
• Talk to [character] at Revolve/Survive.: You can return to Revolve/Survive to start up a Drink Link.. You can still increase Bond Level even if you don’t immediately do so, however.
• This will unlock as the story progresses.: You cannot unlock any further Drink Links until you advance the main questline. You can still increase your Bond Level even if you don’t immediately do so, however.
• Bond has deepened with [character].: You’ve maxed out your Bond Level with this character! Friends forever!

Bond Levels themselves aren’t terribly consequential - you don’t gain any bonuses by going from Bond Level 23 to Bond Level 24, for example. Heck, even going from Bond Level 2 to Bond Level 100 doesn’t change much for most characters. Increasing Bond Level does, however, unlock Drink Links, which are indicated by the numbered pink hearts in each character’s Bond menu, and not only will witnessing these advance each character’s companion questline, but it’ll unlock various useful bonuses in combat. This will be covered in greater detail on the [Drink Links] page, but first, let’s take a closer look at how to actually improve Bond Level.

How to Increase Bond Level¶

There are many ways to accumulate Bond Points in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - just keep an eye out for a pink heart icon, as this indicates your Bond Level is increasing. This is usually clearly advertised, and you’ll frequently find your Bond Level increasing as you just play the game. Some ways to increase Bond Level are as follows:

Defeating Enemies¶

Vanquishing foes and emerging victorious from battles - hard-fought or otherwise - is a great way to build up your party’s camaraderie, and this is reflected in-game, as you gain +1 Bond Point every fight you win. It doesn’t matter what level you or the enemies are, or if you use a Smackdown to instantly defeat said enemies, one fight, one battle. Only active party members get this bonus. It’s not a fast way to increase Bond Level, but if you’re engaged in a long dungeon run, the points can add up.

If a battle involves a special enemy (these have crowns above them outside of battle, making them easy to spot) you’ll instead gain +10 Bond Points for winning the battle. This really only has much bearing when you’re in optional dungeons, like the Hawaiian Haunt, as special enemies are repeatable there. Again, it’s not a super-fast way to increase Bond Level, but you could find several such enemies on a single level of the Hawaiian Haunt, and that adds up.

Restaurants¶

Buying anything at a restaurant will give all active party members +3 Bond Points, it doesn’t matter how much you spend or how many items you order, you get +3 Bond Points. The only exception is if you order a combo meal, which is a specific selection of menu items that triggers a Table Talk scene, which will net you +15 Bond Points. Table Talk bonuses only trigger once, and only the characters who participate get the points. When triggering a Table Talk, you still get the normal +3 Bond Points for ordering anything at a restaurant. This is highly repeatable and, depending on what you order, not too expensive, but it is rather tedious to grind out a lot of Bond Levels at once.

Give Gifts¶

Near or within stores you’ll sometimes see a gift icon pop up, prompting you to buy a gift for one of your companions. If you agree you’ll spend some cash (usually $10) and select a party member to give said gift to. If you give a gift to a character they’ll gain +4 Bond Points, or +8 if it’s a gift that character particularly favors. There is no indication about what gifts each character favors, so you’ll have to pay attention to what they say (Walk & Talks are useful for getting this background info) or just save scum. Ultimately +4 or +8 points isn’t a huge deal for one character, especially when you can spend less money to give every character +3 Bond Points via any restaurant.

Party Chats and Walk & Talks¶

As you explore Honolulu, Yokohama, or Kamurocho, you’ll occasionally see a green text prompt pop up. If you select it, some of your party members will engage in a Party Chat, where they just chat and you’ll gain +10 Bond Points. Walk & Talks are similar, save they have a pink text bubble, are marked on your map, and are character-specific. Neither of these are repeatable, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for the prompt - it’s just free Bond Points.

Bond Bingo¶

Every Walk & Talk you complete (see above) will fill out a spot on a companion’s Bond Bingo sheet, and just like normal Bingo if you complete a row (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) you’ll get rewarded. In this case you’ll earn an extra +25 Bond Points per Bond Bingo. This is just a bonus reward for completing Walk & Talks.

Crystal Aloha Resort Pool¶

Head to the Crystal Aloha Resort along the western edge of Aloha Beach, specifically make your way to the pool outside the hotel overlooking the beach. Talk to the Concierge near the door outside and he’ll offer to let you rent the pool out for a mere $500. If you agree, your party members will head into the pool and you can talk to them for +10 Bond Points each. Compared to just ordering something at a restaurant, this is a terribly inefficient way of boosting your Bond Level, but it’s still an option.

Clubs¶

Clubs - like the Dolls & Devils Playhouse in Honolulu and Rose Blossom Cabaret and Lin Lin Hostess Bar in Yokohama - are arguably the best and most expensive ways to boost your Bond Level, although there is a bit of complexity and RNG that’s worth discussing. First, as mentioned earlier, this is expensive. You’ll have to pay an entry fee, pick one or two hostesses (who have costs varying from $300 - $3,500), then buy food and drinks to increase the odds that their special skill will activate, which can cost a few thousand more. Generally, you should expect to pay $500 on the absolute low end, or $8,000+ on the low end.

Each hostess appeals to one or more of your party members, as indicated by hearts on the right side of the screen. Hostesses will only add one heart, but to different characters - more expensive hostesses tend to give more characters hearts, but still only one each. Since you can pick two hostesses, that’s up to two hearts per companion by default. In addition, each hostess has a special skill that can add further hearts if the skill triggers. The skill usually gives bonus hearts to all men, all women, or everybody. You can increase the odds of these skills triggering by ordering different types of food and beverages, just pay attention to how much the gauge under each hostess’s card is filling up. Different foods will give different hostesses a greater chance of their special skill proccing, adding more hearts. Just pay attention to the max skill activation chance and don’t burn a ton of cash on low RNG activations.

Once you’ve selected a hostess and ordered food, the game will check to see if each hostess’s skill activates, and if so, it’ll give more hearts. At the end of the visit each participating character will get +20 Bond Points for each heart they ended up with, for a range of +0 to +100 Bond Points. That’s quite a bit, and once you know what to do this isn’t that tedious of a process, but it’s very expensive. The best way to boost Bond Level fast, if you have the means.

Play Minigames¶

There are a variety of minigames you can play with your companions, like Poker, and somehow they magically have their own funds for these… but are notably bankrupt when it comes to buying them new weapons and armor. Curious. Anyways, your monetary gains are real during these minigames, but you’ll also get +10 Bond Points when you play. This is fine, but there are faster ways to boost your Bond Level.

Drink Links and Bond Level Rewards¶

While increasing your Bond Level will allow companions to switch to more jobs and will unlock more skill inheritance slots, there are additional bonuses you can get by increasing your Bond Level. At regular Bond Level intervals (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50) you’ll unlock Drink Links. Return to your safehouse bar (Revolve in Honolulu or Survive in Yokohama) and talk to any characters with a black and white heart icon to start up a Drink Link. These reveal some ongoing issue the companion is having, and it’s mostly just a chat that reveals some details about your allies. For most Drink Links you just have to make two different dialog choices (these yield Personality Traits, there are no wrong answers), but for the fifth and final Drink Link there’s often some combat involved, often just involving Ichiban/Kiryi and the companion you were having a Drink Link with.

When you complete a Drink Link you’ll unlock various boons, as follows:

It’s hard to quantify how much more powerful raising Drink Links makes your companions. After viewing the first Drink Link you’ll unlock a Tag Team skill; the name of the skill varies by companion, but they are special attacks that deal heavy damage to enemies. Just press * whenever the Hype Meter is filled to initiate a Tag Team skill. Other Bond Abilities will cause characters to strike knocked-down enemies more often, and if you unlock combo attacks you can stand near a character before initiating a basic attack to get them to join in. All this adds up to a considerable increase in damage on your average combat turn, as your pals will jump in and contribute of their own volition more often!