Aniimo Aniipods and Sparkling Cubes: How to Get Them and When to Use Each

Basic Aniipods are the right throw for almost everything, Megas are for Alphas, and Ultras and Sparkling Cubes are for a short list of targets. Here is every pod's guarantee, where to get each one, and the tricks that make cheap pods catch.

Which pod to throw: the quick answer

Basic for everything, Mega for Alphas, Pro for runners, Tumbler in Nurture. Ultras and Sparkling Cubes are not "better pods." Each one buys a guarantee, so save them for targets where that guarantee matters. 0:00

Pod | Catch power | Guarantee | Use it on

Aniipod (Basic) | Base, 3,500 credits | none | Almost everything. Best catch value per credit.

Aniipod Pro | +50% over Basic, for +100% cost | none | Targets that try to run away, or when you're short on time.

Aniipod Mega | +33% over Pro, for +50% cost | none | Alphas. Also fine for Prismana you won't use in combat.

Aniipod Hyper | 2× | none | The "sniper": skittish targets just out of normal range.

Aniipod Track | 2× | none | Homing, for fast or flying targets.

Tumbler | 2×, 6× in Nurture | none | Only during Nurture Wild Surges, on big low-rate targets.

Aniipod Ultra | 100% catch | At least Elite potential | Prismana or Sparkling spawns for your combat party. Never Alphas or Umbrals.

Sparkling Cube | Catch | Perfect + Sparkling | Favorites and scarce endgame-party picks. Never without a plan.

Credits each. Misses come back to you, so you can't waste one by missing.

Of the pod's cost, when you catch on the first throw.

"Pretty much guaranteed to catch."

The pod math: why Basic wins

None of the upgraded pods scale efficiently. A Pro costs 100% more for 50% more catch rate, and a Mega costs 50% more than a Pro for 33% more. Every step up loses value per credit, so you pay for them only to save time. 2:10

Relative to a Basic Aniipod, from Kairos's ratios (Pro 1.5× rate for 2× cost; Mega a further 1.33× rate for 1.5× cost). Hyper, Track and Tumbler are all 2× catch rate.

"Basic for almost everything, Mega for Alphas, Pro for anything that's trying to run away." Even Lucky Strike farming is cheapest with Basics, despite the Fatal Shot bonus favoring higher catch rates. 2:20

Perfect copies without Ultras

To get a Perfect of a common line, mass-catch its first stage with Basics and keep the best. Kairos force-spawned Emberpups with Fire Shards (cheap in the Credit Shop, Nurture tab), got 4 Elites in one batch and kept going for a Perfect Scorchhowl. He even got an Umbral Emberpup along the way. 4:13

Ultras and Sparkling Cubes: the best targets

Guarantees at least Elite

That is its only purpose. Use it on a Prismana or Sparkling spawn you'll put in your combat party. If you won't use it in combat, a Mega is fine: Kairos caught an Elite Prismana Scorchhowl with one. 9:00

Guarantees Perfect + Sparkling

The sparkle type is random and can be changed later. On a spawn that was already going to be Perfect it can roll above 8/8 (his Infergon), but it's not guaranteed (his Fulmintis stayed 8/8). 6:31

The only three Sparkling Cube targets

• Your absolute favorite Aniimo. The sparkle is cosmetic, so a Cube is partly a "because I love it" purchase.
• An Aniimo you'll want in your endgame party that's hard to get many of, such as a Prismana spawn you can't easily farm again. Kairos Cubed the Prismana Stellarys from his Lucky Strike farm.
• An Umbral you also want Sparkling, if you're fine never evolving it. Umbrals are already Perfect; 10 Sparkling Sigils can also make one Sparkling without a Cube. 10:56

After you beat an Alpha, the 2-minute catch window pressures you into using an Ultra, the only 100% pod. Don't. You get the Primegy rewards even when the catch fails, you'll have countless more attempts, and Alphas have no stat advantage: Kairos's Alpha and normal copy were both Elite. Their bigger size disappears once you Twine. Kairos's Mega throw sat at about 14%, and that's fine. 3:00

Umbrals always roll Perfect, even from a Basic pod. Basics catch them easily unless they flee. Evolving or transforming an Umbral removes its look.

Sparkling Cube an Alpha, catch that species' Prismana form, then use a Prismana Orb on the Alpha (it keeps potentials, traits and personality). It's a collector's project: Kairos notes it's no stronger than a Cube-caught Prismana with a 10-Mark contract. Watch

Capture-rate tricks: backstabs, Break, Fatal Shots

The cheapest catch is a guaranteed one. Kairos describes backstabs and Breaks as the throws that make even a Basic pod a sure catch, and a first-throw catch pays back almost half the pod. 1:55

• Sneak behind it for the backstab bonus. This is how Kairos chains guaranteed first-throw catches.
• Break it first on tough targets. A broken target is the other near-guaranteed catch he mentions. He doesn't give a number for it.
• Reposition after a failed throw. A failed Aniimo pops out facing the same direction it faced when you threw, so walk behind where it will land and your next throw is a backstab. 6:55
• Out of range? Roll the pod along the ground or lob it. 7:15

Fatal Shot: credits back

Catching on the first throw triggers a Fatal Shot, which refunds 46% of a 3,500-credit Basic. In Kairos's run, 99 Basics gave 82 Fatal Shots and 90 catches, and about 203,000 credits came back (~59%). 0:50

Lucky and Super Lucky Strikes

Every successful catch can roll a Lucky or Super Lucky Strike, which raises the area's Prismatic Energy. Any energy gain has a small chance to surge straight to full and draw in a Prismana. Super Lucky Strikes also drop about 20 Sparkling Crystals (he got 19 to 23), a slow F2P route to Cubes. 2:34

Strike | Weekly rate (pity)

Lucky | First 10 per week at 1% (pity 200), then 0.5% (pity 400)

Super Lucky | First of the week: captions say "2%", most likely 0.2% (pity 500), then 0.1% (pity 1,000), then 0.05% (pity 3,000)

Rates as Kairos reads them. 1:40

Go to the region of the Prismana you want, ideally during a Vein Abundance event that floods it with one species, and spam Basics with backstabs. You can catch any Aniimo there. Holding the mouse auto-throws for AFK farming, at a lower credit return. It runs until you're out of pods or storage. 1:27

Nurture: the Tumbler method

• Catch the easy, low-level spawns with Basics (backstab them).
• Tumbler the big, high-level, low-rate ones, such as a high-level Fenrier.
• Under 10 left? Spam Basics, they're far cheaper. Switch to Pro only if time runs short. Two minutes is plenty.
• Catch, don't kill. Only catches send Vein Essence to the Bloom. 7:24

How to get every Aniipod

Source | What you get | Notes

Outpost Vendor Shop, Corner Shop, Exchange | Discounted Basic, Pro, Mega (weekly limit); base-price pods and Tumblers; 20 Ultra Vouchers = 1 Ultra | Reachable from anywhere. Buy the discounted stock, but don't spend all your credits. 0:10

Super Claw Exchange, needs a teleport | Heavily discounted Hyper, Track, Tumbler | Tumblers at half price: always buy them. You spawn facing away, so turn around. 0:50

Mysterious Vendor (Weston) | Daily rotating stock: Ultras, Tracks, Sparkling Cubes, Marks, Psyche Fruit | Check daily. 3:40

The world | Pods on the ground, in chests and sparkling pickups | They don't respawn, so grab them all. An interactive map lets you track them. 1:30

Homeland Aniipod Maker | Free pods, better ones as it upgrades | Staff it with an Electric worker. Starts at 1 per 15 min; Kairos made 75 in under a day. "Help process" yourself to speed it up. 2:16

Homeland warehouse | Aniipod Megas | Transfer them out weekly.

Ultra Vouchers | 20 per Ultra | From Elite Training, Holo-Battle Sim, Sanctum clears, chests, and the Coil Strike Strength Tester. 3:05

Glimmer / Lumen | Ultra = 200 Glimmer or 200 Lumen Crystals (max 10) | Kairos doesn't recommend spending Glimmer on Ultras; one daily Primegy refresh is better value.

How to get Sparkling Cubes

Cubes are scarce for everyone. Getting the most free ones comes down to playing daily and not skipping weekly shops. 4:15

Traded at the Mysterious Vendor (Weston) or the Outpost Vendor's Item Exchange.

Buys exactly 1,000 Sparkling Crystals: one Cube per week.

Sparkling Crystals per Super Lucky.

• Companion Handbook season shop (1 Cube, unlocks after you spend Stamps in the weekly shop)
• Holo-Battle Interlink (Sparkling Crystals)
• Super Lucky Strikes (~20 Crystals each)
• Star Wish capsules (Sparkling Crystals, 100 Voxel Coins per coin)
• Glimmer: 1,500 per week (collectors' best Glimmer use; progression players should buy Primegy instead)
• Paid: the $10 Companion Handbook has 2 Cubes, the Premium Custom Pack is a "super cheap Cube," and the Adventure Pack has 3 (Lumen Crystals at the shop price are "prohibitively expensive")

Sparkling Aniimo also spawn in the wild at about 1 in 2,000, come from Wonder Eggs, and can be made with 10 Sparkling Sigils (1 per Sparkling caught). Only a Cube guarantees Perfect as well. Watch

Your weekly pod routine

• Outpost Vendor: buy the discounted Basic, Pro and Mega stock (weekly)
• Super Claw: buy the half-price Tumblers, plus Hypers and Tracks if you need them (weekly)
• Weston: check for Ultras and Cubes (daily)
• Trade 20 Ultra Vouchers for an Ultra (whenever you have them)
• Collect the Aniipod Maker and move warehouse Megas (daily / weekly)
• Spend Stamps in the weekly shop to unlock the season-shop Cube (weekly)
• Save every Ultra and Cube for a combat-party Prismana or Sparkling spawn, never an Alpha

More advanced Aniimo guides

• Best builds for every AniimoHeld item, personality, skills and tier for all 104 Aniimo
• Best teams for every elementGame8 and GameWith meta comps, rotations, F2P swaps and counters
• Damage multipliers: 10× to 20×Break windows, element advantage, typeless buffs, talents
• Build systems explainedStats, personalities, all 18 held items, contracts, Potential, talents, evolution
• Upgrade priority: where to spendLeveling, Awakening, star-ups, held items, Primegy and Glimmer
• 70 advanced tipsCombat, catching, Primegy, Homeland and hidden mechanics, numbered and timestamped
• Daily and weekly checklist25 dailies and weeklies, the fastest route, and the Primegy and Glimmer rules
• Prismana, Nurture and rarityNurture math, the Lucky Strike farm, Prismana skill values, Sparkling, Umbral and Alpha
• Homeland: max-efficiency setupWood bottleneck, Element Gems, Index Score to 16,000, workers and the generator grid
• Shop guide: what's worth buyingEvery pass, pack and currency shop ranked, plus the traps and an F2P plan
• Fire builds: every Fire AniimoScorchhowl, Inferlupa, Infergon, Sparkelf and the rest: items, skills, teams
• Water builds: every Water AniimoPrismana Glacy, Sherro, Panpanta, Piopiota, Erlath and Leafy: items, skills, teams
• Grass builds: every Grass AniimoIrisalis, Thornblade, Irisal, Melloblum, Tuckin, Pomawk and Hexxin: items, skills, teams
• Ice builds: every Ice AniimoGlynsera, Geoclaw, Snowfield forms and the Ice team that counters Water and Lightning
• Lightning builds: every Lightning AniimoFulmintis, Besauce, Dazmand, Blazen, Fenmane, Luminelle and their Prismana forms
• Wind builds: every Wind AniimoTurbo, Somniwing, the Chirpi family, Eklue, Helgon and Gracewing
• Earth builds: every Earth AniimoGrizbo, Waleetle, Minespine, Shrubclaw, Bouldus, Bailite: items, skills, teams
• Dark builds: every Dark AniimoStellarys, Rookey, Pawney, Ignitis, Hexxin, Dreaple, Fragrancier: items, skills, teams
• Light builds: Lunara, Helion and PrismanaStarter builds, Fennelun and Soleon, Light Prismana forms and the Light team

Sources

• Kairos: The BEST Way to use Sparkling Cubes & Aniipod Ultras!
• Kairos: How to get Sparkling Cubes & ALL Aniipods!
• Kairos: Infinite Prismana Aniimo Farm
• Kairos: 68 Aniimo Tips I Wish I Knew SOONER!
• Kairos: The RAREST Aniimo Possible
• Game8: How to Build Aniimo

Aniimo art and logo © Pawprint Studio, shown for reference. Headings set in Swei Gothic (SIL Open Font License).