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Temtem guide: How to capture a Kinu

Collect your own spirit guardian of the Great Banyan

Jeffrey Parkin (he/him) has been writing video game guides for Polygon for almost seven years. He has learned to love just about every genre of game that exists.

Temtem’s Great Banyan tree becomes much more welcoming after you defeat Dr. Hamijo during “Adventure in the Myrisles” mission. Once you’ve done that, the inside fills with grass and Nature type Temtem.

If you ask around inside, you’ll learn about an elusive species of Temtem called a Kinu that you can now find there. In this guide, we’ll help you find and capture your own Kinu.

Get the Four-Leaf Clover in Deniz // Aguamarina Caves

Before you even try to capture a Kinu, return to Deniz.

Head to the shore in Brical de Mar, hop on your Temtem surfboard, and follow the docks north. At the end of the dock, turn west (left).

Watch the cliffs along the western side for the entrance to the Aguamarina Caves. Inside, head all the way to the left — you’ll need to use the Crystal Skates and your surfboard to get there. Take the stairs up.

Fight your way right (east) across the second floor. Head to the bottom of the large crystal patch, and look for a landing.

Temtem Aguamarina Caves Four-Leaf Clover location
The Four-Leaf Clover location on the second floor of the Aguamarina Caves.
Image: Crema via Polygon

You’ll find the Four-Leaf Clover in a box there. This gear will increase your chances of capturing untamed Temtem with TemCards.

Remember, though, that the Four-Leaf Clover is not an item for tamers. It’s gear for your Temtem. It needs to be equipped, and will only benefit the Temtem throwing the card. That means you have to be careful about which squad member you put it on.

Find a Kinu

With the Four-Leaf Clover equipped on your Temtem of choice, head back into the Great Banyan.

There’s no secret to finding a Kinu. You just need to keep running around and having encounters. Wander around both floors inside and just keep fighting. Fire and Toxic attacks make quick work of the non-Kinu Temtem you find.

Reduce the Kinu’s health into the red

When you finally do encounter a Kinu, you need to get its health down without killing it. They’re weak against Fire, Crystal, Toxic, and Digital attacks, so use those sparingly.

Temtem Kinu reduce health to capture
Carefully reduce a Kinu’s health into the red to increase your chances of catching it.
Image: Crema via Polygon

Keep an eye on how much damage your attacks do so you’ll have an idea how many more you can land before accidentally knocking the Kinu out.

Inflict the Asleep status

An Asleep Kinu is easier to catch than one that’s awake. Try using the Hypnosis technique from Temtem like Paharo or Houchic. (Saku’s Narcoleptic Hit implies sleep with its name, but it doesn’t inflict the status. It only deals damage.)

This isn’t a required step, but it’ll help.

Use TemCard+

TemCard+ have a higher capture rate than regular TemCards. Using them will increase your chances, but they don’t guarantee success.

Before trying to capture a Kinu, buy a healthy supply of TemCard+. We went through about 12 of them capturing our first Kinu.

What to do with your new Kinu

Kinu are the first untamed Mental type Temtem you’ll encounter, so they’re invaluable to your squad if you didn’t choose Houchic as your starter. They have a nice combination of Nature and Mental techniques. And they learn Beta Burst at level 22. That’s a powerful Mental technique that deals double damage against Neutral and Melee type Temtem.

Once you capture one, don’t forget to give it the Coward’s Cloak to level it up.