A complete Anime Vanguards familiar list is the single most-requested reference for players chasing late-game roster power, because every Memoria you slot behind a Vanguard changes the damage curve, survivability, and even ability cycling on the field. This guide covers every companion currently in the live patch, breaks them down by rarity and source, and shows the fastest route to unlocking Escanor, Foo, Demon, and the rest of the meta picks without wasting Gems on dead pulls. If you have ever logged in after an update and wondered whether your favorite unit's companion is still worth chasing, the data below gives you a clear, ranked answer.
Anime Vanguards Familiar List Overview
Familiars are summonable companion units that fight alongside your deployed Vanguards in Anime Vanguards, granting stat boosts, passive auras, and in some cases full extra abilities that fire off cooldown. They are unlocked primarily through the Memoria system, which is the gacha-style summoning layer that sits behind every familiar slot on your roster. Once a Memoria is pulled, the corresponding familiar is added to your companion inventory and can be assigned to any Vanguard that meets its Bond Rank requirement.
The familiar roster is split across five rarity tiers, and the gating between them is steep — a Mythic familiar can outperform a stack of Rare companions on a single Vanguard, which is why understanding the rarity distribution matters before you spend. Below is the full Anime Vanguards familiar list organized by tier, with each entry showing its source Memoria, role archetype, and the community-reported pull location.
| Rarity | Familiar | Source Memoria | Role | Pull Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mythic | Escanor | Solar Memoria | Burst DPS / Aura | Cursed Familiar Portal |
| Mythic | Foo | Celestial Fox Memoria | Support / Cooldown | Cursed Familiar Portal |
| Mythic | Demon | Shadow Memoria | Debuff / DoT | Cursed Familiar Portal |
| Legendary | Sakura | Blossom Memoria | Healer / Cleanse | Standard Banner |
| Legendary | Gilgamesh | Gate Memoria | Tank / Taunt | Standard Banner |
| Epic | Pikachu Echo | Volt Memoria | Burst / Pierce | Event Banner |
| Epic | Yoruichi | Thunder Memoria | Speed / Crit | Standard Banner |
| Rare | Kurama Cub | Fox Memoria | Minor Buff | Standard Banner |
| Rare | Titan | Stone Memoria | Minor Tank | Standard Banner |
| Common | Slime | Gel Memoria | Trash Cleanup | Standard Banner |
The table above is the master reference; the rest of this guide walks through how to actually obtain each tier, which familiars belong on your permanent roster, and how Memoria evolution works when you want to push a single companion past its base stats. If you want a deeper breakdown on Memoria fusion routes, the Memoria Maker puzzle walkthrough covers the evolution chain in detail.
How to Get Familiars in Anime Vanguards
Every familiar in the game is gated behind the Memoria summoning system, which means you cannot craft or buy a familiar directly — you pull the matching Memoria first, then activate the companion on your account. There are currently three working pull sources in the live patch, and each one drops a different rarity band with a different cost ceiling. Knowing which portal to spend on is the difference between a six-week roster and a six-month grind.
Standard Banner Pulls
The Standard Banner is the free-to-play backbone of the entire companion system. It costs 50 Gems per single pull or 450 Gems for a ten-pull, and the pity counter is fixed at 100 pulls for a guaranteed Legendary. Drop rates, as reported by community data from the official Discord:
| Rarity | Per-Pull Rate | Pity Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 55% | None |
| Rare | 30% | None |
| Epic | 12% | 50 pulls (50/50) |
| Legendary | 3% | 100 pulls (guaranteed) |
| Mythic | 0% | Unobtainable here |
The Standard Banner is the only place to farm Slime, Titan, and Kurama Cub, which means new players should dump their early Gems here before touching the Cursed Portal. A beginner route through the macro efficiency guide covers how to bankroll those early pulls without burning out on repeat stages.
Cursed Portal Pulls
The Cursed Familiar Portal is the only place in the live game where Mythic-tier familiars drop. It costs 250 Gems per pull or 2,200 Gems for a ten-pull, and the pity counter is shared across all three Mythic companions — meaning you cannot lock in a specific Mythic on this banner. Drop rates community-reported from the patch notes:
| Rarity | Per-Pull Rate | Pity Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Epic | 40% | None |
| Legendary | 45% | 30 pulls (guaranteed) |
| Mythic | 15% | 150 pulls (guaranteed, random) |
This is the banner that drops Escanor, Foo, and Demon, which is why every late-game roster chase funnels through it. The 150-pull pity ceiling is brutal on a free-to-play budget, so plan to stockpile Gems across two full event cycles before committing.
Event Banner Pulls
Event Banners rotate roughly every four to six weeks and feature a single Epic or Legendary familiar as the rate-up target. They cost 150 Gems per pull with a 50-pull soft pity and a 100-pull hard pity for the featured unit. The current rotation (as of the October 2026 patch) is the Pikachu Echo banner, which boosts Epic Volt-type rates to 25% during the event window.
Event Banners are the most efficient way to fill specific gaps in your roster, but only if the featured unit is actually a tier-list pick. Skipping a weak rate-up and saving for the next Cursed Portal rotation is a legitimate strategy, and the trait reroll guide covers which traits make a featured unit worth chasing in the first place.
Anime Vanguards Familiar Tier List
Not every unlocked familiar is worth keeping on your active roster, and the gap between a top-tier Mythic and a bench warmer is large enough to cost you entire event clears. The tier list below ranks every currently available companion by practical performance in Infinite Tower, World Boss, and PvP ladder play, based on community testing data aggregated from the Anime Vanguards subreddit and the official Discord.
| Tier | Familiar | Reason | Best Pairing |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Escanor | Burst aura stacks with Solar element Vanguards for 4x damage on crit windows | Sun-themed DPS units |
| S | Foo | Cooldown reduction aura enables double-rotation on any ability-heavy Vanguard | Spam-caster Vanguards |
| S | Demon | DoT aura ignores 60% of boss DEF in World Boss content | Tanky single-target Vanguards |
| A | Gilgamesh | Taunt aura draws aggro off squishy backline for 8 seconds | Glass cannon formations |
| A | Yoruichi | Speed + crit aura boosts dodge-focused Vanguards by 35% | Evasion bruiser builds |
| A | Sakura | Heal + cleanse aura is mandatory on any sustain-light team | All formations |
| B | Pikachu Echo | Burst window is strong but locked behind event rotation | Niche Volt teams |
| B | Kurama Cub | Minor buff is decent filler, gets outclassed by Sakura | Early-game filler |
| C | Titan | Minor tank aura doesn't scale into late Infinity Tower | Bench only |
| C | Slime | Trash cleanup is irrelevant once you clear Stage 5 | Salvage for shards |
The S-tier trio is non-negotiable for any roster pushing past Infinity Tower Floor 80, and the 150-pull pity ceiling on the Cursed Portal is the only realistic way to obtain all three. If you have to pick a single Mythic to chase first, the Demon familiar deep dive makes the case for starting with Shadow Memoria because its DoT aura scales hardest into the World Boss leaderboard, where most of the seasonal Gem rewards are concentrated.
Which Familiar Fits Each Game Mode
A flat tier list is useful as a reference, but the actual "best" familiar depends entirely on the content you are pushing. The community has settled on three distinct loadouts for the three primary game modes, and each loadout centers around a different Mythic aura. Swapping companions between modes is free and instant, so there is no downside to maintaining all three setups once your roster is deep enough.
Infinite Tower Loadout
Infinite Tower is the endless climbing mode that resets every two weeks, and the meta there favors raw sustained damage over burst windows. The community-recommended loadout is Escanor on your main DPS Vanguard, Foo on your ability-spam support, and Sakura on your tank. This trio gives you burst windows for boss floors, cooldown reduction for the long grind between elites, and a sustain layer that keeps your frontline alive through the Floor 70+ damage spikes. Expect to clear Floor 100 with this setup if your Vanguards are at least Trait Tier 6 — the trait floor matters more than the companion floor at that point, which is why the trait tier reference is worth pairing with this loadout.
World Boss Loadout
World Boss fights demand DoT uptime and DEF shred, which is why the community-default loadout here swaps Escanor out for Demon on the main carry. The DoT aura ticks every 0.5 seconds and ignores 60% of the boss's DEF stat, which compounds with any DEF debuff your Vanguards apply through their own abilities. Pair Demon with Gilgamesh on the tank to force the boss's aggro away from your DoT carry, and finish the trio with Foo for cooldown cycling on your highest-damage cooldown ability. This is the loadout that posts the top leaderboard scores every season, and it is the most common setup you will see in any recorded clear video.
PvP Ladder Loadout
The PvP Ladder is a mirror-match format where aura stacking and ability cycling determine the outcome more than raw stats, and the meta there is dominated by Foo plus Yoruichi plus Sakura. The cooldown reduction aura lets you fire your ultimate twice in a single round, the speed aura forces your units to act before your opponent's, and the heal aura keeps your frontline alive long enough for that double-ultimate window to resolve. The full unit roster breaks down which Vanguards synergize hardest with this trio, but the short version is that any Vanguard with a sub-30-second ultimate cooldown is a top candidate for the Yoruichi aura.
Memoria Evolution and Familiar Upgrade Path
Pulling a familiar is only the first step — every companion can be evolved through the Memoria Maker system, which fuses duplicate Memoria shards into a higher-tier version of the same familiar. A base Epic Memoria evolves into a Legendary after 40 shards, and a base Legendary evolves into a Mythic after 120 shards. Mythic Memoria cannot be evolved further, but they can be Awakened using a special currency that drops from Cursed Portal hard-pity milestones.
| Evolution Stage | Shards Required | Stat Boost | New Ability Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rare → Epic | 10 shards | +15% aura scaling | None |
| Epic → Legendary | 40 shards | +30% aura scaling | Tier 1 passive |
| Legendary → Mythic | 120 shards | +50% aura scaling | Tier 2 passive + visual rework |
| Mythic → Awakened | 1 Awakening Stone | +25% aura scaling | Tier 3 passive |
The Memoria Maker is the only place to convert shards into evolutions, and the puzzle timing on the maker is the gating mechanic most new players hit first. The Memoria Maker puzzle reference covers the solve timings, but the practical takeaway is that you should never feed a Mythic Memoria shard into a non-Mythic base — the conversion is irreversible and you will lose 60% of the shard value.
Awakening Stones drop at a rate of 1 per 150 Cursed Portal pulls, which means a fully Awakened Mythic roster is roughly a 12-month free-to-play project. Plan accordingly, and prioritize Awakening the Mythic that you actually field on your hardest content rather than the one with the highest pull luck.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best familiar in Anime Vanguards right now?
The current community consensus puts Escanor, Foo, and Demon in a shared S-tier, with the actual "best" pick depending on the content you push hardest. For World Boss leaderboard scores, Demon wins because the DoT aura scales highest into DEF-stacked bosses. For Infinite Tower clears, Escanor is the cleanest carry because the burst window lines up with the boss floor timing.
How do you unlock the Escanor familiar in Anime Vanguards?
Escanor is unlocked by pulling the Solar Memoria from the Cursed Familiar Portal, which costs 250 Gems per single pull and has a 150-pull hard pity for a random Mythic. There is no way to target a specific Mythic on this banner, so expect to spend roughly 37,500 Gems on average to guarantee pulling Escanor at least once.
Is the Foo familiar worth pulling for free-to-play players?
Yes, but only after you have already secured one other S-tier Mythic. Foo's cooldown reduction aura is the strongest support passive in the game, and it slots into every content type without a bad matchup. The efficient free-to-play path is to pull on the Cursed Portal during a double-Mythic event rotation, which bumps the rate to roughly 25% per pull and cuts the average Gem cost in half.
Can you get Mythic familiars from the Standard Banner?
No, the Standard Banner has a 0% Mythic rate and no pity path that escalates into the Mythic tier. All three current Mythic familiars — Escanor, Foo, and Demon — are locked exclusively behind the Cursed Familiar Portal. This is by design, and the developer has confirmed in the official Discord that Standard Banner Mythics are not planned for any patch in the 2026 roadmap.
How many familiars can you equip at once?
Each Vanguard slots exactly one familiar, and your active deployment limit is six Vanguards on the field at any time, which means a full team carries six familiars into a match. Bench Vanguards do not contribute auras, so swapping your bench between fights is the only way to access more than six companions per session. Most endgame players maintain three full loadouts — one for Infinite Tower, one for World Boss, and one for PvP — which requires 18 unique familiars to cover every slot without overlap.