Anime Adventures Beginner Guide to Your First Team

Anime Adventures is a tower defense game. Clear story stages in order, keep your Gems for summons, and spend Yen during matches on placing and upgrading units. Story progress is your best early goal, since it pays Gems and also unlocks Infinite mode.

Update 21, the Summer 2026 update, went live on November 1, 2026. We found no reliable, up-to-date unit tier list, so this guide does not rank units. Balance changes often, and old lists can steer you wrong. Some numbers below come from a 2023 guide and are marked as old.

How a match works

Enemies walk along a set path toward the exit. You place units beside that path, and they attack anything in range. Stop every wave before it gets through.

During a match you earn Yen by defeating enemies, clearing waves and running farm units. Spend it as you play, on new units and on upgrades for the ones you have placed. The better your defense kills, the more Yen comes in, so a strong start pays off.

Story mode

Story mode is the main path through the game. Each world has numbered acts, and you clear them in order. The first time you clear an act you get extra rewards, including Gems, so first clears are the fastest early income.

• Start at Planet Greenie, the first world.
• Clear acts one to six in each world before you move on.
• If an act is too hard, go back and level your main unit with the XP food from earlier worlds, then try again.
• Clearing act six of a world opens more content, such as Infinite mode and, in some worlds, a Legend Stage.

Story mode has 22 worlds listed. Some evolve recipes need materials or takedowns from a specific world, so check the recipe for the unit you want before you skip ahead.

Matchmaking and playing with others

When you pick a stage, you can play it alone, with friends, or through public matchmaking with random players. Public matchmaking is the easy way to get help on a stage you cannot solo, and community guides recommend it for event stages too.

A few tips for public games:

• Bring units that help the team, such as damage dealers and units that can hit flying enemies.
• Some modes let players pick modifier cards between waves. Avoid picks that make the stage harder for everyone.
• If you want steady farming partners, the official Anime Adventures Discord is the usual place to find them. Open it from the link on the game page so you reach the real server.

Know your currencies

Keep these apart, because they are easy to confuse.

The 2023 guide says each summon costs 50 Gems, and that first-time story level clears pay 60 Gems. Check the summon screen for today's price. Event banners, such as the Summer 2026 banner, use their own currency instead of Gems.

Your first hour

1. Redeem any working codes at the CODES area in the main spawn. Some need a minimum level, so try again later if one is rejected.
2. If you get a Celestial Compass from a code, read what it does before you summon. Recent guides say it lets you pick one Mythic unit from the banner as your target.
3. Summon with the Gems you have, so you have units to place.
4. Start Story mode at Planet Greenie.
5. Clear each act in order.
6. Do your quests and daily challenge for extra rewards.

Do not grind one stage for long while easier first-time clears are still open.

Best units for beginners

We do not name a best unit list, because the units recommended for beginners change with every update and the guides we checked disagree. Instead, build a starter team by role:

If a unit from the current banner is described as strong on several recent lists, it is usually worth a Celestial Compass or a focused save. Check the date on any tier list before you trust it.

Placing units well

• Put attackers where the path bends, so enemies stay in their range longer.
• Check each unit's placement type, which is either ground or hill, before you plan a spot for it.
• Watch for flying enemies, and keep a hybrid unit ready for them.
• Place a farm unit early if you own one, because it raises your Yen income for the whole match.
• Upgrade a few strong units instead of placing many weak ones when Yen is tight.

Summoning and luck

Gems are mainly for summons. Do not treat them like in-match money. Rarities run from Rare up to Mythic and Secret, and the banner pool rotates, so look at what is on it before you spend. If nothing helps you, wait for the next rotation.

Luck tests. When people search for an Anime Adventures luck test or lucky test, they usually mean fan-made summon and trait reroll simulators, or videos where players open a large pile of summons to see what they get. These are not part of the game. Simulators use community-reported rates, which may be old, so a result there tells you nothing about your next real summon.

Luck boosts. Community guides for Update 21 say the Summer event shop sells Luck Potions that raise summon luck on the Gem banner until the banner changes. Use one right before a planned batch of summons, not on single pulls.

Pity. Some banners show a pity counter. Guides warn that it can reset when the banner changes, so do not stop just short of it at the end of a rotation.

Leveling up your units

The best way to level up units is to combine three sources:

1. XP food. Each story world drops its own XP food, such as Senzu Beans on Planet Greenie. Feed it to your main damage unit first.
2. Playing stages. Units also gain XP from clearing story and farming stages.
3. Spare units. Extra units can be used for XP. Guides suggest turning off auto-sell for Legendary units, since they are worth more XP than lower rarities.

Do not sell duplicate Mythics in a hurry. Recent guides say duplicates are used for Limit Breaking, which raises a unit's level cap. Check the in-game Limit Break screen for the exact cost.

Evolving units

Mythic, Legendary and Secret units can evolve with materials. Each unit has its own recipe, so read it in the Evolve area before you farm. These are the materials people ask about most:

Rainbow Star Fruit is the bottleneck for many recipes, so do not spend it on a unit you plan to replace. Mage Mark is needed in large amounts (one listed recipe asks for 400), so play the highest Sacred Planet act you can clear.

How to get Marco (Phoenix)

Marco is called Phoenix in the game. It is a limited Secret unit added in Update 21. Guides say it drops from Sunny Stars, the summer capsules you open with Summer Pearls, and the odds are very low. To evolve it into Phoenix (Mythic Flames) you need 7,500 takedowns and a Phoenix Belt from the Summer Market. Because it is limited, it may leave when the summer event ends, so do not plan your whole team around it.

Traits

Some units come with a trait when summoned. You can reroll at the reroll NPC outside the Evolve area, using Reroll Tokens or Star Remnants. Decide what the unit is for first, then stop once it does that job.

Superior 3 (Superior III) is the top tier of the Superior trait and is a good stopping point for a main damage unit. It is much rarer than tiers I and II, so many players accept Superior II early on. Unique is very rare, and the one-copy limit can lower total damage on units that normally place five or six copies.

Relics and artifacts

The gear system is called relics. You craft relics at the Golden King NPC, and they boost stats such as damage and critical chance. Only units rarer than Epic can equip them, and the Sacred Planet raid can drop Relic Shards in its later acts. You can ignore relics during your first story run.

People who search for Anime Adventures artifacts usually mean relics. There is also an evolve material called Magical Artifact, used in at least one recipe. Check the recipe screen to see whether a unit you want needs it.

What to do after the story

Mistakes to avoid

• Spending Gems the moment you earn them without checking the pool.
• Rerolling traits on units you plan to replace.
• Farming evolve materials before reading the recipe.
• Copying a tier list from years ago.
• Using exploit scripts, or paying outside sites to farm items on your account. Both can cost you the account.

Frequently asked questions

Is Anime Adventures still playable in 2026?

Yes. Update 21 went live on November 1, 2026, on the main Anime Adventures game by Gomu. Avoid copycat listings with similar names and join the game from the Gomu group page.

What is the luck test in Anime Adventures?

There is no official luck test in the game. The term usually refers to fan-made summon or reroll simulators and to videos of large summon sessions, which do not affect your real odds.

How do you get Mage Mark in Anime Adventures?

Mage Mark comes from the Sacred Planet raid. Later acts give more per clear, so push to the highest act you can finish reliably.

How do you get SMILE Fruit and Rainbow Star Fruit?

SMILE Fruit drops from Puppet Portals after you clear Puppet Island in Story mode. Rainbow Star Fruit comes from Challenges mode and sometimes the Travelling Merchant.

What does Superior 3 do in Anime Adventures?

Superior III adds 15% damage, the highest of the three Superior tiers. It is a good target for your main damage unit.

What is the best way to level up units?

Feed XP food from story worlds to your main unit, clear stages with it on the team, and use spare Legendary units for extra XP. Focus on one carry first rather than leveling everything a little.

Related guides

• Anime Adventures Codes and Redeem Steps