Scarlet Nexus bond levels are what expand your SAS powers in combat, and the game gives you plenty of ways to raise those levels. One of those is gift giving, and while giving gifts involves some grinding, it’s worth the time since it makes later battles easier.
There are even some optional bond events that don’t give you anything practical aside from greater insight into your squad. Our Scarlet Nexus bond guide explains what each of these is, how to raise bond levels, what the team bond level is, and how to get gifts.
How to Raise Bond Levels in Scarlet Nexus
You can raise bond levels in several ways. The easiest is just using the SAS Link with party members in combat, which you’ll do on a regular basis anyway. However, the bond benefit from the SAS Link is fairly minimal.
Giving gifts and viewing bond episodes offer a much more substantial increase to your bond levels.
Each chapter has an interlude period, or standby phase, where Yuito or Kasane can spend time at their hideout and speak with party members. Some will ask you to spend time with them via a Brain Link message, but those in the hideout will have a magenta icon over their heads when you approach that indicates a bond episode is available.
No conversation choices pop up during these episodes, so you’re free to just watch what unfolds without making any important decisions.
After phase two, you can purchase gifts for your squadmates from the shop robot at the hideout, though the game is a bit vague on how that works. Gifts are under the “Exchange” tab, and each is marked with the person who it’s intended for. New gifts are available after each phase.
However, you’ll need special materials to get them.
Scarlet Nexus Materials
Each gift requires a set number of materials, for example, 3 Mizuhagawa A. These materials are the white, shiny collectibles you’ll occasionally find in each stage — not the more common green ones.
From my experience, the materials seem to be random, e.g. the first area of a stage might give you C materials instead of A. However, Scarlet Nexus’ fast travel system means you can just keep warping back to find what you want. Crank difficulty down to Easy if the Others are getting in your way.
Scarlet Nexus Bond Skills
All this is worthwhile thanks to the new SAS skills you’ll learn as bonds increase. Each character’s unique SAS ability gets several boosts, such as Tsugumi’s clairvoyance helping land stronger hits against certain enemy types, and they’ll learn auxiliary skills too, such as periodically taking a hit in your place.
You’ll run into stronger enemies and (many) more of them as Scarlet Nexus progresses. Having these buffed up abilities makes clearing fights less of a grind, so it’s worth taking time to find materials and increase bond levels, even if you aren’t interested in the characters.
Is There Scarlet Nexus Romance?
There’s no Scarlet Nexus romance in the “choose your favorite” sense. However, the story does contain plenty of flirtation between characters, as you’d expect when genetically modified teenagers are grouped together.
Scarlet Nexus Team Bond Levels
Team Bond levels aren’t quite as important, but they’re worth focusing on if you’re invested in the party.
Raising team bond levels unlocks team bond episodes and new outfits for the party. Raising the team bond level is basically just raising your bond with everyone in the party, so you’ll increase the team bond level by doing everything else we’ve outlined here.
That’s all you need to know about Scarlet Nexus bonds and how to raise bond levels, but be sure to check out our other Scarlet Nexus guides for more tips.
