Progression · Resources
Aniimo Upgrade Guide: Where to Spend Resources (and What Not to Waste)
Primegy, Starcryst Essence and Dewdrop Crystals are the real limits on how strong your team gets. Here is the order to spend them in, the refund rules, and the mistakes that burn them for nothing.
The upgrade priority ladder
Spend in this order on every combat Aniimo. Each step is cheaper and more refundable than the one after it, so you lose the least if you change your mind later.
- Pick the right copy first. Use a Perfect with the highest core-stat innate you can find (9s and 10s). Everything after this step costs less on a better copy. 3:28
- Level it. Leveling is the biggest stat boost in the game: Kairos's Attack went from 360 to 517 between level 40 and 60. 5:47
- Capability Awakening on role stats only. Star Dust, then Star Sand, then Starcryst Essence. Refundable before Lv 61. 4:18
- Resonance Star Rank (star-ups) with Dewdrop Crystals, only on Aniimo you will keep. Not refundable. 7:33
- Held item: the recommended one, top rarity, then enhance it to Lv 15. 9:25
- Contract the maxed item with Marks of the Strong, if the boosted core skill is worth it. 12:12
- Personality last, and only on key units. Psyche Fruit rerolls all four letters at random. 14:09
Innate plus Acquired Potential per stat. Star-ups and a held item can push past it.
Credits to reset Capability Awakening, before Lv 61.
Lost when you feed an upgraded held item into another one.
Max only what the role uses while you progress. Elemental counters mean you'll want several element teams for Holo-Battle Sim and Interlink, so spread your materials across more Aniimo instead of maxing every stat on one. 14:26
Start from the right copy: rarity and Capafruit
Every Aniimo has two core stats that get its extra potential points. The rarity grade is set by how high those two go, and higher innate potential drastically cuts the cost of maxing.
| Grade | Core-stat innate max | Verdict for combat |
|---|---|---|
| Common | up to 3 | Don't invest. "I throw all my common Aniimo out in the trash." |
| Good | up to 5 | Don't invest. |
| Elite | up to 7 | Only if the Aniimo is hard to get. |
| Perfect | 8 or more | The baseline for your combat party. Most roll 8/8. |
| Crowned / Sunglasses | 10 in a stat / 10 in both cores | The best possible start. A Crowned Sunglasses Perfect ends with three stats at 20. |
Sort your box by Perfect rating and look for 9s and 10s. Umbral Aniimo always roll Perfect, and an Ultra guarantees at least Elite. 1:00
Kairos tried to take a Common Celestis from 2 potential to 20 and ran out of Starcryst Essence before finishing. The last few Awakening levels cost 5 Starcryst Essence each. Start high. 6:22
Capafruit: +1 to every stat, once per Aniimo
- Best use: a 9/9 Perfect, which becomes 10/10. It also gives a free first Awakening level.
- Don't use it to bump a 7/7 Elite to Perfect. Find a better copy instead.
- DPS only. DPS units use every stat, so +1 everywhere is worth the most there. Most other roles need only one or two stats maxed. 13:35
- Price: 1,000 Glimmer, or 20 Capa Seeds from the Premium Custom Pack (10 per pack).
Celestis (Kairos's example)
Stellarys
Infergon (his Crowned 3×20)Capability Awakening and Potential
Potential is a multiplier on per-level stat gains, and it applies retroactively. At Kairos's Helion level, 1 Attack potential = +3 Attack. Capability Awakening raises Acquired Potential on top of the innate roll, up to 20 per stat.
Star Dust
Cheap. Farmed from Alphas with Primegy.
Star Sand
The next bottleneck once held items are sorted.
Starcryst Essence
Up to 5 per level. The scarcest material here.
Costs escalate with each level, and the final ones each eat 5 Starcryst Essence. The Acquired cap also depends on Resonance Star Rank and level, so you can't max everything at once early on. Kairos needed 4 Starcryst Essence to take his Blazen's Break from 8 (plus 1 from a star-up) to 20. 8:50
Which stats to awaken
| Role | Awaken | Skip |
|---|---|---|
| DPS | Attack, then Regen (keeps EP up during the break window), then a few points in HP and defenses | Break, unless it's Helion or Lunara acting as your breaker |
| Break | Break, then Regen | Attack: tested to do almost nothing for shield damage |
| Regen | Regen only (Somniwing's party EP scales with it, up to 36%) | Everything else |
| Heal | HP, since heals usually scale off HP | Attack |
| Support | Read the kit: Turbo's shield uses max HP, Dazmand uses Attack, most supports use Attack | Stats the kit doesn't read |
Full role builds, personalities and Game8's per-unit star ratings are in the build systems guide.
Refunds: the safety net
Capability Awakening: refundable
A full reset costs 200,000 credits before Lv 61 (Kairos says "before level 60" in one video and 61 in another). Use it to rebuild for one-time fights, as he did for the Lv 65 fight that unlocks Prismana Sherro. 12:20
Releasing: refunds leveling
Releasing an Aniimo you leveled gives back the resources you spent on it. Kairos got his Growth Buds back this way. 20:40
Resonance Star Rank and Dewdrop Crystals
Star-ups spend Breezy Plains Dewdrop Crystals plus elemental stones (Night Stones for Kairos's Stellarys). They give percentage stat bonuses, such as +2% Attack, and certain ranks raise how far you can push Capability Awakening. You unlock the system through the quest Promotion: Dewdrop Crystal's Resonance.
Ascension steps
Each ascension gives +1 to all six potentials, "basically a Capa Fruit." 7:33
Counter Boost
Unlocked by ascending: +30% damage and break damage with a countering element, on top of the 60% advantage. 8:20
6★
Needs a Phenomena Crystal, which is very hard to get F2P. It comes in the Companion Handbook and the Weekly Nurturing Pack.
Unlike Awakening, Dewdrop Crystals spent on star-ups never come back. The only way to move them is Inherit, and that only works within the same evolution family. Only star up Aniimo you will actually use. 8:10
Inherit: upgrade without starting over
- Moves all investment from one Aniimo to another in its family, and doesn't delete the source. 16:15
- Elite to Perfect, or 8/8 to 10/10: keep checking new Perfect catches and move your work onto the better copy. 17:20
- Between branches: Inferlupa and Scorchhowl share the Emberpup family, so one set of star-ups can serve both. Reset Awakening and swap the held item afterwards.
Held items and contracts: the enhancing rules
Your held item is a damage multiplier in its own right. Kairos's Ferocious Fang took his Stellarys from 25% to 65% Damage Amp. The rules below keep you from wasting the materials that get it there. 10:00
- Pick the recommended item: the thumbs-up or blue check in the game is usually a safe bet. Niche builds may differ.
- Only enhance top-rarity items. Feeding an enhanced lower-rarity item into a top one loses 20% of the upgrade value, so don't level purple or blue items "for now." 21:25
- Hunt the exact item: Menu, Institute Guide, Aniimo Challenge, then the Held Item filter. It shows which Alpha drops it, so you can aim your daily Primegy. 11:27
- Enhance to Lv 10 and Lv 15 to unlock its Tier 1 and Tier 2 effects.
- Contract it (Legendary item at Lv 15, 10 Marks of the Strong) to boost the species' core skill. Contracts can't be undone. Swapping the item off un-boosts the skill until you re-equip it.
An Alpha's core skill is already boosted, which is worth 10 Marks of the Strong. If you have an Alpha of a unit you plan to contract, build the Alpha instead. 5:50
Marks of the Strong are scarce, and Game8 rates many contracts as not worth them. Spend them on contracts that change a kit, such as Irisalis (+1 clone) or Fulmintis (Lightning Blade Storm gets more Might, lower EP cost and faster slashes). The full list is in the build systems guide.
Primegy: never let it cap
Primegy is the biggest progression bottleneck, especially for F2P, because it turns into everything else: Starcryst Essence, held items, Star Dust and Dewdrop Crystals. Never missing it is how F2P players keep up with spenders. 0:56
10 per hour, 240 per day.
Full in 30 hours. Spend at least that often.
Full in 60 hours. It's a bigger tank, not faster regen.
Where to spend it, best first
- The three Omegas, 3 fights each per week. They're the single best use of Primegy and give more Awakening material per point. Omega Infergon gives Starcryst Essence. Unlock all of them through the Aniimo Challenge quests first. 2:53
- Alphas for whatever you're short on. You get the rewards whether or not the catch succeeds, so throw a Mega (or even a Basic) and move on. 3:54
- Can't play today? Buy the 3 Daily Supply Packs (Shop, Corner Shop, Exchange, Outpost Vendor, Item Exchange). It's the worst use, but better than wasting Primegy at the cap. 1:55
There's no wrong target, only what you need now. Kairos describes it as a cycle: first Starcryst Essence, then held items, then Star Dust and Star Sand (he farms two specific Alphas for these; the Aniimo Challenge list shows which Alpha drops what), then Dewdrop Crystals. 4:22
New players should hold Batteries until World Level is around 50 to 55. Rewards scale slightly with World Level, which you raise through Elite Training. 7:14
Glimmer math and crafting Starcryst Essence
For progression, the best use of Glimmer is one Primegy refresh per day: 50 Glimmer for 60 Primegy. Kairos ran the numbers and it beats Capafruit, Sparkling Crystals, Ultras and cosmetics per Glimmer, as long as you build from Perfect copies. 8:15
| Refresh of the day | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glimmer cost | 50 | 100 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 200 |
Only the first one is a good deal. F2P players should buy exactly one per day, because Glimmer runs out. 10:39 That one refresh works out to about 1 Starcryst Essence per ~66 Glimmer, which is why the Starcryst option in the Premium Custom Pack is a trap. 14:53
Craft extra Starcryst Essence
Omega Infergon gives 3 per week. You can craft more:
- Buy Star Stones from the Outpost Vendor for 100,000 credits each. Kairos bought 10 for 1M.
- Collect one of each of the 8 elemental stones (Blaze Stone, Wave Stone and so on), not the Light Stone, which only comes from leveling.
- Craft from Bag, Aniimo Items, Star Stone: 1 Star Stone plus the 8 stones makes 1 Starcryst Essence.
- "Insufficient items" doesn't say which stone is missing. Open the Aniimo Challenge, find the stone showing Owned 0, kill that Alpha with a Mega throw and craft again. 5:40
Other Starcryst sources: the weekly Holo-Battle Sim (one of the best), Holo-Battle Interlink (44 stars gives 2) and the season shop.
Mistakes that waste resources
- Letting Primegy sit at 300. Every 6 minutes at the cap is a point gone. (spend every 30h, or 60h with the pass)
- Awakening a Common, Good or Elite combat unit. The last levels cost 5 Starcryst Essence each, and a low copy needs far more of them. (use Perfects)
- Putting Attack on a Break unit. Kairos added 12 Attack to a Bolty and shield damage barely moved. Break does the work. 19:30
- Maxing every stat on support roles. Regen, heal and support damage scales with level, except Dazmand (Attack) and Somniwing (Regen). (role stats only)
- Starring up an Aniimo you might drop. Dewdrop Crystals only move within the family via Inherit. (not refundable)
- Leveling a purple or blue held item. Feeding it into the top-rarity one later loses 20%. (wait for top rarity)
- Contracting for a tiny bonus. Game8 says contracts like Glacy's Healing Water (10% to 12% heal) aren't worth the Marks. (contract kit-changers)
- Capafruit on a 7/7 Elite or a non-DPS. (9/9 Perfect DPS only)
- Buying a 2nd Primegy refresh, or Starcryst in the Custom Pack. (one 50-Glimmer refresh a day)
- Using Primegy Batteries at a low World Level. (wait for ~50 to 55)
- Throwing an Ultra at an Alpha. Alpha rewards drop even when the catch fails, and Alphas have no stat advantage. (use a Mega)
- Leaving replaced Aniimo leveled in storage. Releasing one refunds its leveling materials, and Inherit moves star-ups to a better copy. (release or Inherit)
Blazen: Break only
Somniwing: Regen only
Glacy: HP only
Dazmand: Attack
Fulmintis: every stat