Chocobo Raising

Chocobo Raising, added in Patch 2.3, allows players to improve and customize their Chocobo Companions. With chocobo raising, players will be able to increase their chocobo companions beyond Rank 10 and up to Rank 20, set a preferred food for a buff, and alter their feather color.

Note that this is NOT the Chocobo Racing's Raising or Breeding. That is a separate system using separate birds. See Chocobo Racing for more Info.

Unlock

Quest

Players must have unlocked the Company Chocobo mount and then completed My Feisty Little Chocobo to unlock the Companions feature.

Afterwards, players must complete the level 30 quest Bird in Hand. Players can begin this quest by talking to Luquelot in Central Shroud (X:20, Y:21).

Stable

To begin raising a chocobo, players must first acquire access to a Chocobo Stable, which can be purchased from the housing merchant NPC in any residential area. It can then be placed as an outdoor furniture item.

Alternatively, apartment owners have access to a stable outside their apartment building. A stable placed at their Free Company's house will also work.

When your chocobo is in the stable, you cannot mount him or summon him to battle. The companion menu is also not available while your chocobo is stabled.

Training

Your Chocobo, as well as those of your free company members, can be trained while stabled to earn experience points. Chocobos can be trained once per hour, costing any one of the following fruits or vegetables as a reward for their efforts:

Experience granted will be the same regardless of the item selected, though stable conditions will affect experience gains. These fruits and vegetables can be obtained through gardening or bought from specific vendors.
There are two separate 1-hour cooldowns for training your Chocobo - the timer when you do it, and the timer when anyone else does it. These are managed separately.

If you reward your Chocobo with the same food 10 times in a row, that will become the Chocobo's favorite feed.

You may change your Chocobo's favorite feed by giving them a different food 10 times in a row.
Once a favorite feed is established, giving a non-favorite food 1 time will break the streak, reverting the Chocobo to having no favorite feed.
Krakka Roots and Thavnairian Onions cannot be a favorite feed, and they do not break the favorite feed streak.
Only you can change your Chocobo's favorite feed - anyone else that trains your Chocobo cannot influence this.

Food Effects

For Snacks that change your Chocobo's color, see Chocobo Colors

When feeding the below foods to a summoned Chocobo Companion, they will gain a boost to their stats for as long as they remain summoned.

Buffs will persist while: the player is using a mount, or the player is in a city where the Chocobo does not follow them.
Buffs will disappear if: the Chocobo's timer runs out, the Chocobo is defeated in combat, the "Withdraw" action is performed, or the player logs out of the game.
Only one of these buffs can be active at a time. If a new buff is cast, it will overwrite the old one.
If the food is a Chocobo's favorite, the buff will be upgraded to level 2.
Curiel Root's EXP bonus only affects EXP from battle, not EXP from stable training or the Challenge Log. The Chocobo companion must be "withdrawn" in order to be put into a stable anyway, so it would not be possible to have the Curiel Root's buff while in a stable.

Food	Effect	Source
Curiel Root	Companion EXP Up	Gardening
Sylkis Bud	Companion Attack Up	Gardening or Vendor
Mimett Gourd	Companion Healing Potency Up	Gardening or Vendor
Tantalplant	Companion Maximum HP Up	Gardening or Vendor
Pahsana Fruit	Companion Enmity Up	Gardening or Vendor

Tips and tricks

When deciding which food to make a chocobo's favorite:

Recommended options:

Curiel Root - The exp boost can be effective if aiming to rank up a Chocobo quickly through battles, such as FATEs. However, since no NPC vendor sells it, players will need to rely on gardening or the market board for a steady supply.
- Note that the EXP boost does not affect the Challenge Log.
- Make sure to switch to a different favorite once the Chocobo has reached rank 20.
Sylkis Bud - The attack buff improves damage for all stances except Healer Stance (which does not attack), so it is generally useful for ending battles slightly faster.
Tantalplant - The extra HP helps the Chocobo's survival, as they will not disengage from the enemy or exit AoEs unless they are in Healer Stance or instructed to Follow.
- Should the Chocobo die, they can be revived relatively quickly by using a Gysahl Greens - although, upon being revived, they will lose their buff.
- If the Chocobo is dying frequently even with the HP buff on, then the extra HP might not be helpful in practice.

Not recommended:

Mimett Gourd - The Chocobo already has access to a healing potency buff from Choco Surge (healer tree 7). While the two buffs can stack, the extra potency from this food is generally not necessary.
Pahsana Fruit - Chocobos generally can't maintain enmity, compared to the player's damage output. While this food's enmity buff seems like it should help, in practice it is still not enough.

Ranking up

A Chocobo's current rank is displayed in the stable menu.

If the number is white, the Chocobo's EXP bar is not yet full, so it can still gain EXP from training.
If the number is orange, the EXP bar is full, and the Chocobo cannot gain further EXP. The Chocobo must be removed from the stable and taken into combat to rank up.

If the number is orange and rank is 10 or above, then the Chocobo can be fed a Thavnairian Onion to increase their maximum rank by 1. The highest rank achievable is Rank 20.

An onion can be fed to the Chocobo in the stable or while summoned in the field, and the effect will be the same.
An onion can only be used if the Chocobo's current Rank EXP bar is at maximum. This means it is not possible to feed multiple onions at once, for example.
Only you can increase your Chocobo's maximum rank - anyone else that trains your Chocobo cannot do this.

Stable Maintenance

As you and your free company members continue to use the chocobo stable, it will begin to accumulate dirt and grime. Stable cleanliness is reflected by one of three conditions: good, fair, or poor. The conditions of the stable can be confirmed by accessing the stable. Keep your stable clean to ensure that chocobo training is effective, yielding the most experience.

To clean the stable, access the chocobo stable interface and select Clean Stable. You will need a Magicked Stable Broom to perform this action.

Experience gain

Assuming the maximum stable condition of "good", Chocobos rank 1-9 will earn 1% of the EXP for their current bar per training session.

Chocobos rank 10-19 will earn 0.05% less exp per rank. For example: rank 10 will earn 0.95% of their EXP bar per training, rank 11 will earn 0.90%, and so on until rank 19, which earns 0.50%.^[1]

Achievements

Chocobo Raising is associated with the following achievements:

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
Bosom Buddies I	5	See your companion chocobo to rank 1.	-	2.1
Bosom Buddies II	10	See your companion chocobo to rank 5.	-	2.1
Bosom Buddies III	20	See your companion chocobo to rank 10.	Chocobo Suit	2.1
Breaking Bo	5	Train another player's chocobo companion 30 times.	Plumed Barding	2.3