How Evolution Works: Lumin, Gamma and Nova

Most Aniimo species can evolve, and captured Aniimo are the ones you evolve. The reward is higher stats and new abilities, which is why it is worth doing for anything you plan to keep on the team.

Not every species has three evolutionary stages, so do not assume every creature you catch has two more forms waiting. The ones that do evolve can change a great deal. The new form has a different appearance, sometimes drastically different, and evolution can shift a creature's role on the team. A creature that filled one slot in your lineup may want a different one afterwards.

Aniimo evolve through three main stages. Lumin, also written Lumen, is the first form. Gamma is the middle form. Nova is the third stage, the fully evolved form, and currently the final one in any evolution line.

The name of that middle stage is not settled in the game's terminology. It is called both the Gamma form and the Nova stage, so if you see a second-stage creature described as Nova, that is the same intermediate form, not a final one.

Lumin creatures start low. Emberpup, the first Aniimo you catch in the tutorial, has one of the lowest base-stat totals in the game, which fits its early Lumin stage: HP 67, BREAK 40, M.DEF 57, P.DEF 60 and REGEN 68. Its attack is not settled between 90 and 86, and its total of 382 assumes an attack of 90.

Nova is where the strongest kit lives. Ultimate moves are exclusive to final-form Nova creatures, so a line that stops short of Nova never gets one. Nova is also where the Prismana appears. A Prismana is an exceptionally rare, radiant special form of a Nova-stage Aniimo of the same species. It is not a rarity tier. It has a modified 3D model and an alternate colour palette. Whether it is purely a visual variant or an empowered final evolution that differs in more than looks is not settled yet.

Open the individual Aniimo's detail screen, the same management screen you use to level it. The Evolve option sits in a corner, shown as an upward-arrows icon next to the level-up button.

The button does nothing until the creature meets its condition. Many Aniimo evolve once they meet a specific requirement, such as reaching a designated level, and at that point the Evolve option becomes usable. If the icon is there but will not work, the creature has not met its condition yet.

An Aniimo's potential tier carries through evolution. A perfect or good-tier creature evolves into a perfect or good-tier form, and a poor one does not improve by evolving. Check quality before you evolve, because evolving is not a way to fix it.

The chains work exactly as you would expect. A perfect Helmut becomes a perfect Pawney. A perfect Helmwhelp becomes a perfect Infergon. If you want a perfect Inferlupa, you need a perfect Emberpup or Flameruff with regen and break as its top stats. In practice this means the work of finding a good creature happens at the early stage, and evolution simply carries the result forward.

This is the one evolution choice you cannot take back. Evolving a darkness (Umbra) variant removes its darkness status. The same goes for any transformation: turning an Umbral Aniimo into a Prismana or a weather form also removes the Umbral form permanently.

What goes is everything that made it Umbral: the unique dark appearance, the state and the special perks. The new form does not keep any of them. If you want to keep the Umbral look, the only way is to leave that creature unevolved. Decide what you value in it before you press the button.

Not every Aniimo starts at the bottom. Hatched Aniimo can emerge at different evolutionary stages, including baby or adult forms, and an Aniimo can hatch directly at the Nova stage.

That matters for planning. A Nova hatch is already at the stage that gets Ultimate moves, with no evolving needed, while a baby hatch has the full line ahead of it and the same rules about potential and Umbral forms apply on the way up.

07Where to start

Check two things before you press Evolve. First, the potential tier, because evolving carries it forward and will not improve it. Second, whether the creature is Umbral, because evolving or transforming it ends that form for good. If both checks pass, evolve it. That is how you reach Nova and its Ultimate move.