Friends and invites
ANKOU has its own friends list, separate from your Discord friends: it holds the players you often play with, shows what they are doing right now and lets you join them in one click, even if they play from another voice channel or another Discord server. To look up any player’s profile, use the search on the ANKOU website (Playing in Discord).
Opening the Friends panel
In any menu, press F or click the Friends (F) button: the panel opens on the side. F or Esc closes it. The shortcut does not work in a match or in the Hideout, where F is used to interact.
The panel has four tabs (Recruit appears at level 11, see Levels, ranks and prestige):
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Friends | Your list, with each friend’s live status (“N of M online”). |
| Requests | Friend requests received and sent (the number of received requests shows on the tab). |
| Add | Player search by name and suggestions of recent teammates. |
| Recruit | The “Ferryman of Souls” referral program: see Bring your friends. A tour introduces it the first time you open it. |
Adding friends
- By search: in the Add tab, type at least 2 letters of a player’s name. The top of the tab reminds you under which name your friends can find you (“Friends can find you as …”, with your Discord @ when there is one).
- By suggestion: the Recently played with section lists up to 12 teammates from your latest matches, with the number of matches played together.
- From the lobby: on another player’s card in the lobby, the + Friend button sends a request; if they asked you first, the button becomes Accept friend.
Click Add: the other player gets your request (and a notification if they are online). If you both send each other a request, you become friends right away.
200 friends at most, and at most 50 sent requests pending: beyond that, withdraw some before sending more.
Requests
The Requests tab splits Received requests (Accept or Decline) from Sent ones, with their date (“Received 3 h ago”). When someone accepts your request, the game tells you (“X accepted your friend request.”).
To remove a friend: More options › Remove from friends on their row, then confirm.
Your friends’ status
The list is sorted by activity: first friends in a match, then those in a lobby, those online, and finally those offline (most recently seen first). The status says exactly what each one is doing:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In match — Round 12 (for 25 min) | Playing a match: map, round, number of players. |
| In lobby — match in progress | In a lobby whose match has started, without playing in it (waiting for the next one). |
| In lobby / In lobby — starting soon | In a waiting lobby, or during the countdown. |
| Online, with the current screen | “In the menus”, “Editing loadouts”, “At the Gunsmith”, “Checking the Battle Pass”, “In the Hideout”… |
| Offline · Seen 2 d ago | Disconnected, with their last visit. |
This same status feeds your Discord status in the Activity (see Playing in Discord).
Joining and inviting
On a friend’s row:
- Join (“Join X’s lobby”): you enter their lobby, even a private one, if there is room left. If their match is in progress, the join in progress rules apply. “In your lobby” shows if they are already with you, “Full” if the lobby is full.
- Invite (“Invite X to your lobby”): they get an invite. If you have no lobby, the game creates a private one for the occasion (“Create a private lobby and invite X”).
You can only invite your friends, and only when they are online. The lobby also has an Invite a friend button that opens this panel.
Receiving an invite
An invite shows up as a card: “X invites you”, with the state of their lobby (waiting, starting soon, match in progress · round N). Join takes you there, Ignore closes it. If you are already in a lobby or a match, the card warns that you will leave them. In the middle of a match, press Esc to respond. An invite expires after 2 minutes.
Joining a friend while you are in a match yourself makes you leave your current match (XP and challenges are kept, but you cannot go back in).
Sending a gift
From More options › Send a gift, you can give a friend:
- a Mega gumball from your stock: they get it right away;
- the current season’s Premium pass, paid with your Ankou Coins: it unlocks their Premium track, with the rewards of the tiers they have already reached.
You can send 5 gifts per day at most, after 5 matches played. The recipient sees “Gift received!” with the sender’s name. See Korrigan’s Gumballs, Battle Pass and Currencies.
Playing together
- Playing with your ANKOU friends in the same lobby gives a squad bonus: +5% XP and Moon Nectar per friend, up to +15% (Lobby and match settings).
- There are no private messages between players: you talk in the lobby Chat and in the match (Lobby and match settings), or in a Discord voice channel (Playing in Discord).
Your friends are tied to your Discord account: you find them again on any computer.
Checked against the game on November 10, 2026