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How to catch wild and Alpha Aniimo
Everything known so far about catching in Aniimo, from the sneak bonus on a normal throw to the defeat-first rule that governs Alphas and Legendaries.
The short version
- Approaching an Aniimo from behind before you throw increases the catch rate.
- Wild Aniimo scale in level and difficulty with your World Level.
- Wild Alpha Aniimo only become catchable after you defeat them in combat.
- A defeated Alpha hit with an Aniipod Ultra is reported to be a guaranteed 100% capture.
- A Legendary must be defeated in battle during its encounter before an Aniipod will work on it.
- An Alpha's stats can land above or below the base species standard.
- Most Aniimo are first met in their base Lumin stage, which evolves into Gamma and then Nova.
- Your active party holds four Aniimo. Everything else goes to the box.
Catching in Aniimo splits into two jobs. There is the ordinary throw at a wild creature in the overworld, where your approach decides your odds. And there is the fight you have to win before the throw is even possible, which is how Alphas and Legendaries work.
Get that distinction straight early and you stop wasting Aniipods on targets that were never going to go in. This is what beta footage shows so far, so treat the specifics as build-dependent where noted.
Below: how the sneak bonus works, the defeat-first rule, and what to do with the creature once it is yours.
Approach from behind
The angle you come in on matters. Approaching an Aniimo from behind before attempting a capture increases the catch rate, so the walk up to the target is part of the catch, not just travel time. Line up behind it, then throw.
The difficulty of that target is not fixed either. The level and difficulty of wild Aniimo in the overworld scale according to your World Level, which means the overworld keeps pace with you rather than falling behind. You will not outgrow a region into a field of free catches. The creature you sneak up on at a high World Level is a tougher creature than the same one you passed early.
Alphas and Legendaries have to be beaten first
Wild Alpha Aniimo become catchable once they have been defeated in combat. Before that, the throw is not on the table. The same rule covers the top of the roster: a Legendary Aniimo must be defeated in battle during its encounter before it can be captured by throwing an Aniipod. Win the fight, then reach for the pod.
For Alphas there is a clean finish to that sequence. Defeating an Alpha and then throwing an Aniipod Ultra at it is reported to give a guaranteed capture, a flat 100%. That makes Ultras worth saving rather than spending on whatever you happen to walk past. Beat the Alpha, throw the Ultra, done.
What you get out of it is less predictable. An Alpha's stats can come in higher or lower than the base species standard. So an Alpha is not automatically an upgrade over a normal member of the same species. It is a roll, and sometimes the roll goes against you.
100%
Capture chance on a defeated Alpha with an Aniipod Ultra
After the catch
Most Aniimo are first encountered in their base Lumin stage, which can then evolve into the later Gamma and Nova stages. The thing you catch is usually the earliest version of it, so judge a new catch on where it is going rather than what it is on the day you pod it.
Storage forces choices. An active team or party holds a maximum of four Aniimo, and everything else sits in a box system. Four slots is tight. Catching widely is fine, but only four of them fight with you at any one time, so every addition to the party pushes something else into the box.
- LuminThe base stage most Aniimo are first encountered in.
- GammaThe stage a Lumin Aniimo evolves into.
- NovaThe later stage in the evolution line.
Where to start
Sneak from behind for ordinary catches. For anything Alpha or Legendary, win the fight first, then throw. Carry Aniipod Ultras for the Alphas you actually want, because a defeated Alpha plus an Ultra is reported to be a guaranteed catch.
Questions this answers
Each of these is answered on its own page, with the sources behind it.
Built from 8 facts gathered before launch, each checked against the sources it came from. How we know this, and who we learned it from.