The best hangout spots and gifts for each hero in Marvel’s Midnight Suns
How to raise friendship, and what to do with your pals.
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For all its tactical chops,Marvel’s Midnight Sunsis just as much a game about hanging out with heroes. More Fire Emblem than XCOM, much of your time will be spent in the Abbey—the home of the Midnight Suns, where the game’s heroes unwind between fights. Each character has their own friendship level with The Hunter, and various interactions can raise—or lower—that relationship.
Why build friendships? Aside from the obvious reason—it’s nice to do—you’ll also gain the transactional benefit of better passive abilities, upgraded combo cards, increased stats, and new hero cards. Raising friendships also contributes to the global team friendship level, unlocking yet more bonuses.
How to build friendship
Throughout the game’s story you’ll have conversations that can provide a small increase in friendship XP—at least if the hero agrees with what you say. Magik sure does hate when you choose the light-side options instead of the dark ones. But to maximise your friendship gains, you’ll want to actively seek out companionship with your new hero pals. Here are a handful of things you can do to quickly raise your friendship level.
Hangouts
Most nights, one of a selection of four heroes can be invited to a hangout. Pick a hero, and you’ll be given three activities to pick from. Each hero has their own preference—younger members like Spider-Man and Ghost Rider love them some videogames; more studious characters like Doctor Strange won’t appreciate spotting you during a workout. If a hero loves your chosen hangout spot, you’ll get a +7 to your friendship. If they like it you’ll get +5. If they dislike it, you won’t earn any extra friendship.
Hangouts also feature conversations with your chosen partner. Pick the responses that vibe with their personality the most and you’ll earn +2 friendship.
Havens
As you explore the Abbey grounds, you’ll find glowing blue zones marking significant areas of the map. Each one is a Haven that you can invite a hero to during the day. Havens work almost exactly like Hangouts—each one is associated with a specific activity—but with two main differences.
You can tell which activity a Haven contains based on the icon you see next to the name when inviting a hero. A bird for Birdwatching, a fish for Fishing, a paintbrush for Painting, a mushroom for Foraging for Mushrooms, a basket for a Picnic, and a flower for Meditation. As for which hero you should take, I’ve included Haven activities among the best hangouts for each hero in the list at the bottom.
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Gifts
At the end of a Hangout or Haven, you get the option to give a gift. There are a number of ways to earn new gifts:
Gifts come in a number of rarities.Common giftstend to be just liked—not loved—by everyone, for a +1 friendship score.Rare giftswill give +4 if a hero really loves it,epic giftsgive up to +8, andlegendary giftscan give +10—but only to the specific hero that gift was meant for.
Compliments
Compliments are one ofMidnight Suns' resources, earned through completing research, completing Hero Ops, or levelling up the Training Yard. You can ‘spend’ them by walking up to a hero and holding down the F key for a +4 boost to their friendship. Spread them around though: compliment the same hero too quickly, and you’ll get diminishing returns.
Sparring
Each day, you can pick a hero to spar with. This is always worth doing, as—when fully researched—sparring provides a number of benefits. Not only do you increase your friendship with that hero, but you’ll give them a permanent stat boost too.
The best gifts for each hero
As mentioned above,Legendary gifts offer a +10 to friendshipif you give them to the right hero. And while they’re not quite as specific, Epic gifts give a respectable +8 to friendship with suitable heroes. Here’s a list of the Legendary and Epic gifts we’ve found so far, and the heroes who will love them.
The best Hangouts for each hero
Naturally, each hero has a preference for how they spend their time, and you’ll get bigger bonuses for picking activities they love. Below, you’ll find a non-exhaustive list of what each hero loves, likes, and would rather not do. We’ll keep updating this list as we continue to wine and dine our heroes. Late-game additions to the roster are at the bottom, for those avoiding spoilers.
Blade
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (0)
Captain Marvel
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Deadpool
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Doctor Strange
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Ghost Rider
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Hulk
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Iron Man
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Magik
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Nico
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Spider-Man
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Captain America
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Scarlet Witch
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Wolverine
Loves (+7)
Likes (+5)
Dislikes (+0)
Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer’s UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he’s not levelling up battle passes, he’s checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He’s largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn’t sorry.
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