Alpha boss farming: respawns, drops and which to keep

Yes. An Alpha boss respawns after you beat it, and you can fight it again as often as you like, with no limit. Alpha Rookie challenges work the same way and can be repeated without limit.

That makes Alphas a farm, not a one-off encounter. Once you know where one sits, you can go back to it whenever you need its drops.

Every Alpha you defeat pays out credits, stamps, XP and Amber. The stamps are Windborne Stamps, which also come from daily activities and other modes, and the credits feed the same economy as everything else in the game. The credits guide covers that side in full.

The drops that make farming worthwhile are the progression materials. Alpha Aniimo drop evolution stones, including Wave Stones, Gust Stones and Roar Stones, and Alpha challenges also reward resonance star-up materials. Certain Alphas drop boss-specific materials that their line needs for progression and evolution. If an evolution or a star-up is blocked by a material, an Alpha is usually where it comes from.

If you play with a friend, fighting together pays off too. Defeating Alpha or Omega creatures with a friend three times raises your friendship affinity.

The first time you beat a given Alpha you get a one-time reward on top of the normal drops. It includes a guaranteed set of evolution stones, Lumen Amber and a guaranteed petal.

You only get that bonus once per Alpha, so each new Alpha you find is worth at least one fight, even if you never plan to farm it.

Some Aniimo will not evolve until you defeat wild specimens of their own species. Depending on the line, that can mean several specimens, or its Alpha or Omega form.

When the requirement is an Alpha, what counts is beating it. Defeating the required Alpha marks the evolution criterion as met even if your capture attempt fails. Catching it counts too. So you can fight it without worrying about the catch.

Celestis evolution is the clearest example. Celestis, the Lumin-stage form of its line, evolves into its Nova-stage form Stellarys once it reaches Aniimo level 18 and you have defeated an Alpha Stellarys to unlock the evolution. The evolution itself spends a Night Stone, so have one on hand as well.

Alphas do not only come from fights. Alpha eggs lie in the open world and you can pick them up directly. An Alpha egg names a territory rather than a specific Aniimo, and it can hatch into any species native to that territory, so you know the region but not the creature.

Alpha Aniimo can also hatch at random from eggs, so an ordinary hatch can give you one too.

An Alpha you catch in the overworld comes with an enhanced version of its Core Skill by default. It keeps that skill without needing a pact with its Held Item, and that advantage alone is a reason to think twice before releasing one.

You can make an Alpha Sparkling by capturing it with a Sparkling Cube. The catch is that Sparkling Cubes are scarce enough that players usually save them for Prismana Aniimo. Keep them for your most wanted targets for the active team, such as confirmed meta picks, Prismana eggs or a Vein Abundance Aniimo you want. Do not spend them on first-time Alphas or early monsters you have not confirmed you need.

Rare traits also stack. One Aniimo can be an Alpha, Sparkling, an alternate form and high potential all at once. Before you register or release anything, check its Alpha status, any special or weather form, and its potential grade (Common, Good, Elite or Perfect). The beginner mistakes guide explains why releasing too fast is one of the costliest habits to fall into.

07Where to start

Fight every new Alpha once to collect its one-time reward. After that, go back to the ones whose evolution stones and star-up materials your team needs, since they respawn with no limit. Find out which evolutions need an Alpha before you start levelling a line, and check every Alpha you catch or hatch before you release it.