Why support unit choice trumps main team picks for friend points
Most players building teams in Princess Connect! Re:Dive spend hours tuning their front three, mid-line damage dealers, and back-row healers. The support unit they borrow for friend point runs, though, often gets picked in five seconds flat. That habit quietly costs thousands of friend points over a season, and players across Aussie Discord servers have started calling it out as the single biggest farming mistake.
The maths is straightforward. Friend points are awarded based on the support unit your host borrows, not your roster. Bring a half-built team to a dungeon and still earn the same FP payout as a whale squad, provided the host pulls in a popular support. For anyone grinding through daily clan battle rotations during an arvo in Brisbane or Melbourne, this is a real efficiency unlock.
What surprises newer players is that the support slot behaves almost like a separate gacha economy. The unit you choose signals your taste, generosity, and awareness of what other players want to borrow. Lock in the right pick and friend list management becomes a passive income stream that hums along while you sleep through the AEDT night.
How the friend point system works in Re:Dive
Every dungeon run, clan battle attempt, and princess arena match that uses a friend support grants FP scaled by that support's rarity and how recently the host cleared the content. A three-star Pecorine or summer Saren borrowed from a maxed-out friend is worth several times what a random one-star picked from the bottom of the list will net you. The unit does not have to be on your account or match your team composition.
Most guides slip up here. They cover team synergy, TP generation, and union burst timing, but skip that your support choice actually moves the FP needle. Australian players grinding during the early morning AEST window before work in Sydney have noticed the same pattern. Whoever shows up with a top-tier support gets queued first and earns more FP per hour.
The role of support units in daily farming
Daily farming in Re:Dive means running the same handful of dungeons hundreds of times. The skill ceiling for these runs is low and the rewards are predictable, so the only real variable is friend support quality. A legendary summer Kokkoro on your support list is a billboard advertising that you take the game seriously, pulling in hosts who feed you FP every time they queue your account.
Putting a niche or weak unit on display pushes your account to the bottom of the search results. You will still get the occasional pity borrow, but the rate at which your name pops up drops off sharply. New players on the Oceania server quickly learn that a flashy support pick beats a flashy main team every time.
Why popularity drives your FP gains
Popularity here is not about waifu wars. It is about raw borrow frequency. Units like Pecorine, Karyl, and summer variants of the main cast get picked because they slot into almost any team and have forgiving gear requirements. Hosts scroll past rare but awkward picks because they want something they can plug and play.
A good rule of thumb is to mirror global tier lists rather than what you personally enjoy. Local community polls in Australian Facebook groups and Discord channels tend to confirm the same pattern that the JP and EN communities report.
| Support Unit Tier | Borrow Rate | FP Earned Per Run | Best Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-star seasonal | Very High | 80 to 120 | Dungeon farming, clan battles |
| Three-star permanent | High | 60 to 90 | All-around daily content |
| Two-star seasonal | Moderate | 40 to 70 | Niche team comps |
| One-star or starter | Low | 15 to 35 | Filling empty slots only |
Choosing supports by player behaviour
Player behaviour shifts throughout the day, and your support choice can ride those waves. Early in the morning across AEST, hosts are typically casual players cranking out their three daily dungeon runs before heading to the office. They want fast, safe, plug-and-play units. Late at night, after the kids are in bed, you see more experimental comps.
Tracking your own borrow history inside the friend menu is the easiest way to tune your display. If nobody has touched your slot-one in two weeks, swap in something trending. Spending friend points at the special shop rotation becomes much easier when your passive FP income is solid, since you can target the items you actually need rather than settling for leftovers.
Strategic timing and refresh cycles
Timing your support refresh matters more than people think. Drop a fresh three-star unit into your slot at the start of an event window and you will ride the borrow wave for the first forty-eight hours. Leave the same unit sitting for a month and it gets buried under newer seasonal releases.
For Australian players, that rhythm lines up nicely with the AEDT switchover in October. New seasons launch, players return from the Melbourne Cup long weekend, and the friend list churn spikes. That first week of daylight savings is a great moment to swap in a meta unit and ride the wave of returning players back into your queue.
Habits that keep the FP income flowing:
- Refresh your primary support slot every major banner drop
- Keep at least one three-star seasonal unit on display at all times
- Prune inactive friends monthly and replace them with active mid-tier accounts
- Swap to a popular permanent unit when no seasonal banner is live
Building a friend list that pays off
Your own friend list also shapes your FP gains. Filling it with active players from the Oceania server, even if you have never spoken to them, means more borrow chances for both sides. Aim for fifty to seventy friends who clear their dailies, prune anyone inactive for more than two weeks, and prioritise accounts that reciprocate by borrowing your support.
The big mistake is treating your friend list like a trophy case of whales. A maxed-out account that never logs on earns you nothing. A mid-tier player who clears their dailies every morning before brekkie is worth three times as much in passive FP. Curate the list ruthlessly and your numbers will climb.
Pitfalls that quietly drain your FP gains:
- Picking a favourite unit that nobody outside your circle actually borrows
- Leaving the same stale support on display through three banners in a row
- Filling your friend list with high-level inactive accounts instead of active mid-tier players
- Ignoring the timing of friend list churn after events end
If you want a full breakdown of which videos, tier lists, and guides line up with this support-first approach, browse the fan-curated collection for everything from gacha pull showcases to event strategy breakdowns. Set up your support slot tonight, refresh your friend list this arvo, and watch the friend point counter start climbing before your next clan battle session.