Key takeaways
- 1. Clear the tutorial and the first three story chapters before opening any shop. Reason: story chapters hand out fixed, non-random rewards — EXP items, a starter weapon, and enough currency for your first discounted multi-pull. Spending before you’ve collected those means spending on a roster you haven’t chosen yet.
- 2. Do the beginner discounted multi-pull and lock in your carry. Reason: the first banner a new account sees is usually discounted and guarantees at least one high-rarity unit. Whoever lands there becomes your carry, and every later decision keys off that.
- 3. Set a three-slot team: carry, healer, flex. Reason: three roles cover roughly 90% of early content, and a fourth slot filled with a second damage dealer usually just splits your gear.
- 4. Dump all EXP items into the carry until it hits the cap for your account level. Reason: level is the cheapest source of raw stats per material, and a carry that out-levels the enemy takes far less damage, which quietly reduces how much healing you need.
- 5. Join a guild or alliance the same day. Reason: guild shops and weekly guild rewards are a second income stream for upgrade materials, and the entry requirement is usually just being active.
- 6. Clear your mail and the new-player event board. Reason: these expire. Anything with a countdown timer should be claimed before you do anything optional.
Start Anime Eternal by pouring every early upgrade into one damage dealer and one healer, and leave the rest of your roster untouched until the story gates you. That single choice — depth before breadth — is what separates accounts clearing chapter 8 in a week from accounts stuck in chapter 4 with eight half-built characters. Below is the order to do it in: first-hour steps, team shapes, upgrade sequencing, and a resource budget with actual numbers.
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The first hour, in order
Every step below has a reason attached, because the early game punishes guessing more than it punishes slow play.
- 1. Clear the tutorial and the first three story chapters before opening any shop. Reason: story chapters hand out fixed, non-random rewards — EXP items, a starter weapon, and enough currency for your first discounted multi-pull. Spending before you’ve collected those means spending on a roster you haven’t chosen yet.
- 2. Do the beginner discounted multi-pull and lock in your carry. Reason: the first banner a new account sees is usually discounted and guarantees at least one high-rarity unit. Whoever lands there becomes your carry, and every later decision keys off that.
- 3. Set a three-slot team: carry, healer, flex. Reason: three roles cover roughly 90% of early content, and a fourth slot filled with a second damage dealer usually just splits your gear.
- 4. Dump all EXP items into the carry until it hits the cap for your account level. Reason: level is the cheapest source of raw stats per material, and a carry that out-levels the enemy takes far less damage, which quietly reduces how much healing you need.
- 5. Join a guild or alliance the same day. Reason: guild shops and weekly guild rewards are a second income stream for upgrade materials, and the entry requirement is usually just being active.
- 6. Clear your mail and the new-player event board. Reason: these expire. Anything with a countdown timer should be claimed before you do anything optional.
Team building: one carry, one healer, one flex
The early game is a stat check, not a puzzle. You win by having one character whose numbers are high enough to end fights quickly, plus enough sustain to survive the turns before that happens.
What each slot actually does
- Carry: your highest-rarity damage dealer. It gets first pick of gear, EXP, and skill books. Its job is to delete the enemy’s damage dealer on turn one or two.
- Healer: sustains the carry through multi-wave stages. Healers scale on level and one skill, so they’re cheap to build — which is exactly why they’re worth building early.
- Flex: a buffer, debuffer, or tank depending on what your free pulls gave you. Speed buffs and defense debuffs are usually stronger early than raw damage, because they multiply the carry you already built.
Team shapes by player situation
Use the row that matches you; the “skip for now” column is where most wasted effort happens.
| Your situation | Team shape to build | First upgrade target | Skip for now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completely free-to-play | Carry + healer + free speed buffer | Carry to level cap | Any second damage dealer |
| Occasional small purchase | Carry + healer + defense debuffer | Carry, then healer to 60% of carry level | PvP-only units |
| Returning after a long break | Newest free carry + healer + old buffer | Fresh gear set for the carry | Re-gearing legacy units |
| Story and collection focus | Carry + healer + whoever you like | Carry only | Min-maxing gear substats |
| Arena and PvP focus | Speed buffer + carry + control unit | Speed gear on the buffer | Story-only farm units |
| Roughly 20 minutes a day | Carry + healer + auto-friendly tank | Carry, then one full gear set | Manual-combo units |
Upgrade order: what to level first, and why
Upgrade in this sequence, and finish each stage before starting the next one.
- 1. Character level. Cheapest stats per material, and it unlocks skill and gear slots. Stop at the cap your account level allows.
- 2. Gear enhancement on the carry’s weapon and two core pieces. A weapon upgrade is usually the single largest power jump available to a new account, and it applies to every fight.
- 3. The carry’s main damage skill. Skill books are the scarcest early material. One skill at maximum is worth more than four skills at level two.
- 4. Healer level. Bring the healer to roughly 60% of the carry’s level — enough to survive splash damage, not enough to compete for materials.
- 5. Ascension or awakening materials. These gate on account level anyway, so you rarely have a choice about timing. Spend them on the carry first, always.
Week-one resource budget
Treat these as shares of everything you earn in the first seven days, not as fixed amounts — the totals differ per account, but the proportions are what matter.
| Resource | Share of week-one budget | Spend it on | Hold it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Character EXP items | ~50% | Main carry | Nobody else until the carry caps |
| Gear enhancement materials | ~20% | Carry weapon + two core pieces | Support gear beyond level 1 |
| Skill books | ~15% | Carry’s main damage skill only | Secondary skills and support skills |
| Ascension materials | ~10% | Carry at each account-level gate | Supports until the carry is capped twice |
| Premium currency | ~5% (refills only, and only if you have spare) | Nothing in week one | A banner you’ve deliberately planned for |
A worked stamina example
Say your account regenerates 240 stamina a day and you claim another 120 from dailies and guild rewards, giving you 360. A story node costs 12 stamina and a gear run costs 20. Spending 60% on story gives you 216 stamina, or 18 node clears, which is roughly one chapter every two days. The other 40% — 144 stamina — buys seven gear runs, which is about one usable gear piece a day. Once the story gates on account level rather than chapter completion, flip the split to 30/70, because at that point gear is the only place your carry’s power is still coming from.
What falls off first
Knowing what stops scaling saves more materials than any tier list.
- Starter gear. It caps at a low rarity tier and cannot be enhanced past that ceiling. Enhancement materials spent on it beyond the first few levels are gone for good.
- Your second and third damage dealers. They feel useful in chapter 3 and become dead weight by chapter 6, because they never got the gear your carry did.
- Skills you leveled “just in case.” Skill books don’t refund. Every book spent on a support’s secondary skill is a book not spent on your carry’s main skill.
- Low-rarity supports. They’re fine as placeholders but their stat ceilings arrive fast, usually around the same account level where enemies start resisting crowd control.
Mistakes that cost the most time
- Pulling on every banner in the first week instead of banking currency for one planned banner.
- Leveling five characters to level 30 instead of one to level 60 — same materials, a fraction of the power.
- Refreshing stamina before finishing the free daily missions, which are cheaper per material than any farm stage.
- Ignoring the flex slot entirely and running three damage dealers, then hitting a wall at the first boss with a heal mechanic.
- Enhancing gear you already know you’ll replace within two account levels.
Balance patches change multipliers, so treat every number here as a starting benchmark rather than a permanent figure, and re-check the game’s official patch notes after each update before rebuilding anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which character should I make my first carry?
Whichever high-rarity damage dealer your guaranteed beginner pull gives you — not the one a tier list ranks highest. A mid-tier unit with all your materials beats a top-tier unit with none of them, and you can’t choose your first pull anyway. Commit to it, and plan your second carry for after the story gates you.
Should I save premium currency for summons or spend it on stamina?
Save it for summons in the first two weeks. Stamina refills only make sense when you already have a character worth farming for, and early on you don’t. A rough rule: if you can’t name the specific unit you’re saving for, you’re not ready to spend.
Do I really need a healer if my carry kills everything in one turn?
You need one by chapter 5, when multi-wave stages and boss mechanics start stretching fights past two turns. A healer costs very little to build — mostly levels — and it prevents the retry loops that quietly eat your stamina. Build the healer at roughly 60% of your carry’s level.
How many characters should I level at once?
One, plus a healer at reduced investment. A single carry at the level cap clears more content than three characters at half the cap, because gear and skill investment multiply level stats rather than adding to them. Widen your roster only after the story stops progressing.
When should I switch from farming story stages to farming gear?
As soon as the next chapter is locked behind an account-level requirement rather than a fight you lost. At that point story stages stop giving you anything you need, and gear runs become the only reliable source of carry power. Expect to spend the majority of your stamina on gear from that point on.
Is it worth restarting the account to reroll for a better starter?
Only if you’re unhappy with your guaranteed beginner pull and you’re still in the first hour. Rerolling costs you the tutorial rewards and any event currency you’ve already claimed, and the gain is usually one unit — which your planning and materials would have compensated for anyway. Past the first few hours, it’s almost never worth it.
