Mobile Legends Affinity and Familiarity System: How does it work?

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (ML) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) with millions of active players per month. The game even attracts players from different countries and cities, especially Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

One attribute of the game that makes it more fun and enticing is its social aspect, allowing players and friends to play the game together. With this knowledge, Moonton, Mobile Legend’s game developer, added another layer to the social element of ML – the Affinity and Familiarity system.

In this article, we’ll learn more about the affinity feature, the types, how to establish and level up affinities, and how to end them.

What is Affinity in ML?
How can you increase ML Affinity?
How to establish your Affinity in Mobile Legends
How to level up ML Affinity
- MLBB Affinity Level Perks
- How to display your Affinity status on the ML loading screen
How to pre-establish Affinities with your friends
How can you remove or end Affinities in ML?
- What will happen to your Familiarity after you end your Affinity?

What is Affinity in ML?

The Affinity Feature in Mobile Legends is the game’s way of showing relationships and interactions between two or more players, especially if they play regularly, by measuring their “Familiarity.”

There are currently four types of affinities you can choose from, and a total of 14 slots are available in Mobile Legends, which for some is limited, especially if they have a lot of in-game friends. The four types of Affinities are:

Partners – You can only add one Partner. Usually, this is reserved for playing couples.
Bros – You can add up to four of them. This can be used for your brothers or friends.
Besties – You can also add up to four. You can add your best friends here.
Confidants – You can add up to five. You can add someone you can trust or anyone else.

However, if we look at the types of Affinities, aside from the Partner Affinity for your girlfriend or boyfriend, the other three types usually don’t have a deeper meaning. They can be interchanged, so you don’t have to overthink where you’ll place your friends.

Also, note that if you want to add your friend to one of your vacant Affinity slots, they should also have a slot available. For instance, if you have one more space for Confidants, but your friend’s is already filled, you can’t add them, or you may choose a different Affinity.

How can you increase ML Affinity?

Establishing Affinity is straightforward. First, you must add the player to your Friend List. Afterward, you need to get at least 150 Familiarity points with them, then send a request to add them as your Affinity. Here are the things you can do to increase your Familiarity:

Play more games with them, whether Ranked, Classic, or other modes.
Gift them with heroes, skins, and other items. Each gift will increase Familiarity by 10% of the gift’s value.
Use event-limited Familiarity Gifts to improve Familiarity points fast, like Familiarity Sweets (+5), Candy Pack (+25), and Teddy’s Blessing (+100).

Here is the breakdown of how your Familiarity increases for each game you team up with them in-game matches:

Teaming up in Ranked Games – each match will give 6 Familiarity.
Teaming up in Classic Games – each match will give 3 Familiarity.
Teaming up in any other mode (though it’s unclear if Magic Chess is included), each match will provide you with 2 Familiarity.

Please note that teaming up and playing with the same friend has a limit of up to 150 Familiarity per week. On the other hand, gifting heroes and skins to your friends has no limit to how much Familiarity you can get.

How to establish your Affinity in Mobile Legends

To establish a new Affinity with your friends, follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to your Profile by clicking your avatar and tapping on Social. This brings you to the Affinity Landing Page.

Step 2: Choose which of the four affinity types you want to add your friend. Then click the “+” icon closest to it.

Step 3: After clicking the “+” icon, you will land on the Social Page > Close Friends (Pending).

Step 4: Choose your friend with at least 150 Familiarity with whom you want to establish Affinity by clicking the heart icon.

Step 5: Select which Affinity from the four types you want to establish, then tap Confirm.

Step 6: Wait for your friend’s acceptance. They need to approve it first before they will be added.

How to level up ML Affinity

After establishing your Affinity with your friends with 150 Familiarity, every succeeding game and gift increases your Affinity Level, where you can get extra rewards, like Affinity Badge upgrades. Here are the Familiarity you need to level up.

Level 1: 150 Familiarity
Level 2: 600 Familiarity
Level 3: 1,200 Familiarity
Level 4: 2,400 Familiarity
Level 5: 3000 Familiarity

Because of the 150 Familiarity limits when playing matches each week, the easiest way to level up your Affinity would be to gift heroes and skins to your buddies.

MLBB Affinity Level Perks

The perks of the Affinity Feature are currently limited to having different Affinity Level Badge displays for Levels 1, 3, and 5. Aside from the Affinity Level icons, you can also use the hero-sharing feature. Unfortunately, it is only available if you play Classic and VS AI Modes.

On a different note, the Affinity feature is a fun way of showing your dedication to playing with your friends, as your Affinity status with them will be shown during the loading screen.

How to display your Affinity status on the ML loading screen

Once you establish your Affinity with a player, you can easily see it on your Friends List. You will also see the Affinity Level Badge beside their name. However, it will not readily be displayed on the loading screen.

To do this, you must go to your Friend List > Close Friends > Affinity. Afterward, you must click the heart icon on the far right side of their IGN. A prompt will appear asking you if you want to display your friend first. Click okay.

However, if you set your display priority to more than one of your friends, only the player with the highest Familiarity will be shown. For instance, you’re playing with two Bros. Bro 1 has a Familiarity of 300, while Bro 2 has a Familiarity of 250. In this case, Bro 1 will be prioritized in the loading screen.

How to pre-establish Affinities with your friends

Adding someone to your list of affinities doesn’t readily require you to have the necessary Familiarity. You can still add your friends to one of the four types by “pre-establishing” your Affinity with them, even if you still haven’t reached the required Familiarity of 150. To do this:

Step 1: Go to your Profile by clicking your avatar and Tap on Social. This will bring you to the Affinity Landing Page.

Step 2: Choose which of the four affinity types you want to add your friend. Then click the “+” icon closest to it.

Step 3: After clicking the “+” icon, you will land on the Social Page > Close Friends (Pending). You will see your current Familiarity points by checking the number of hearts under your friend’s IGN (in-game name). Then click the heart with a link icon to the far right of their name.

You can also increase your familiarity points by clicking the candy icon and sending Familiarity Gifts to them, which you can get from different limited-time events.

Step 4: A pop-up will appear saying that you’re about to pre-establish an affinity with a player while you still haven’t reached the required Familiarity of 150. Click Okay.

Step 5: You will reach the selection page showing the four types of Affinities and how many are currently bound. Please note that you can’t bind them to an already filled Affinity type. Tap which Affinity you want to add your friends and click “Confirm.”

Step 6: After confirming, a notification will show that you’ve sent a pre-establishment request to the player. Next, ensure you both play more often and gift each other to reach the required Familiarity points.

How can you remove or end Affinities in ML?

In case you want to end your Affinity to a player, you will have to send a request to the other player by doing the following.

Step 1: Go to your Friend List > Close Friends.

Step 2: Click the Trash icon on the right side of their IGN. It will prompt a note saying you are requesting to end your relationship with the player.

Step 3: Click ‘Confirm’ if you want to proceed. Else, cancel the request.

Step 4: Wait for their approval or disapproval. After the request is sent, your Affinity will not automatically end.

You will still have seven (7) days of grace period to change your mind or for your friend to persuade you to cancel your request. However, your Affinity will end immediately once your friend approves the request.

Note: The system will automatically end the Affinity if the request is not canceled in 7 days. Also, if the player hasn’t been online for 30 days, the request to terminate the Affinity will be immediately approved.

What will happen to your Familiarity after you end your Affinity?

After you end your Affinity with your friend, your Familiarity will not return to zero. You will keep your Familiarity points that you can use if you ever want to reestablish another type of Affinity with the same player.

For instance, your current Affinity is Level 3 Besties, but you wanted to change it to Partners. You can end your present Affinity and establish a new one for Partners. This way, you’ll retain the points that you accumulated.

However, suppose you want to reset your Familiarity with a certain player to zero. In that case, you must remove each other from your Friend List.

The Affinity Feature in Mobile Legends is a great way to improve your relationship with your friends and teammates, as it will show how many times you’ve played and teamed up. Though this feature still has limited perks, I believe they are already in the works.

Do you enjoy the Mobile Legends Affinity feature? Share your thoughts in the comments below.