Upgrading Characters
There are different means of upgrading characters, often requiring expending farmable resource. Most of these is accessed through the Boost menu.
Aspect | Resource | Acquire Method |
---|---|---|
Level | Battle Records and Draco | Farming Quests, Event Shops |
Skill | Skill books, Class materials, and Draco | Farming Quests, Event Shops |
Rank | Class materials | Farming Quests, Event Shops |
Intimacy | Gift Boxes | Farming Quests, Event Shops |
Proficiency | Memories | Scouting |
Leveling Up
Levelling up directly increases character's stats, which improves their combat effectiveness directly. Instead of characters getting exp and the like from clearing quests, characters require battle records and draco to level up. And each character has their own stat growth, and benefits from levelling differently. The stats that grow through levelling would be HP, ATK, and DEF. After a character reaches their maximum level their Rank can be increased, in which they reset back to level 1 and can be levelled up further.
Level Up Requirements
Requirements to increase a character's level scales exponentially as their level and rank goes higher. There is a 1:1.1 ratio on the required cost for exp and draco. And the stat gains don't necessarily scale higher as they gain levels, instead grow linearly. Due to this, it is ideal to mostly cap a character's level if you're invested in ranking them up or simply maxing them out, and otherwise keep them at certain threshold where costs aren't too steep. The best way to acquire Draco and Battle Records is from Exploration Quests.
Rarity | Rank |
Max Level |
Total EXP | Total Draco |
Any ★ | Bronze | 50 | 24142 | 26556 |
---|---|---|---|---|
3★ | Silver | 55 | 78818 | 86700 |
4★ | Silver | 60 | 109103 | 120013 |
5★ | Silver | 70 | 207488 | 228237 |
0,6,7★ | Silver | 80 | 392233 | 431456 |
NOTE: Silver rank calculations start at Silver Rank Level 1 |
For more information refer to Character Level Up Data.
Rank Up
Also see Rank Up Release History.
Ranking up will reset the character's level back to 1 while retaining their current stats, and allowing them to level up and be upgraded further. This also allows them to level their skills up to 7. This is done by maxing out their level and spending the needed draco and items to increase their rank. There are three ranks: Bronze which is where all regular characters start, Silver which rarities 3★ and above can rank up to and is where all alternate characters start, and Gold which is currently locked.
It is important to note that growth of characters differ a lot, with some benefitting greatly through access to better stats, while others solely on access to higher skill levels.
In addition to stats, Silver rank unlocks the character's splash art, as well give them new sprite art.
Rank Up Requirements
The required items for rank up have a standard set of requirements depending on their class and rarity. Which means all characters of the same class and rarity require the same type of items. And the cost of ranking up higher rarity characters get more expensive. Each class has it's own upgrade item (feathers for vanguards, bottles for healers, claws for strangers, etc.) and an additional item that is used by two of the classes (both fighters and guards use polish). These items are more difficult to obtain from exploration quests compared to Draco and Exp, so it's best to grab these from event exchanges.
All of these items can be acquired from Exploration Quests and Event Exchanges.
Upgrading Skills
Upgrading skills is another way to enhance your character's combat effectiveness. Skills can be upgraded by giving characters Skill Manuals and Class Upgrade Materials. The amount of and types of resources required to upgrade skills vary depending on the character's rarity and class. Higher rarity characters require more items compared to lower rarity ones. These items can be acquired from Exploration Quests and Event Exchanges. These items are more difficult to obtain from exploration quests compared to Draco and Exp, so it's best to grab these from event exchanges. Each class has it's own upgrade item (feathers for vanguards, bottles for healers, claws for strangers, etc.) and an additional item that is used by two of the classes (both fighters and guards use polish).
Upgrading skills can do one or more of the following
- Increase the numerical value in the skill's description.
- Reduce the SP required to use a skill.
- Increase the initial SP of the skill when the character is deployed.
- Add an additional effect to the skill or modify it's range.
If characters do not have a numerical value in their skill or there is no change in the skill's description, the enhancement comes from reducing their skill's cooldown time. For example summoners like Anima or Hanzo have their initial summon or resummon time reduced when their skills are upgraded, but the stats of their summons are dependent on the character's level.
The maximum skill level for bronze rank characters is 3. Skills can be enhanced further by increasing the character's rank to silver. The maximum skill level for silver rank characters is 7. Generally the most significant skill upgrades occur at higher skill levels.
Skill Upgrade Requirements
Intimacy
Intimacy is a stat that indicates how intimate the character is with Gaia / The Protagonist. Intimacy is rated at a value between 0% and 100% After reaching 100% intimacy the character opens their heart to Gaia and he's able to see into their pasts using his "Dragon Eyes." Additionally intimacy is supposed to give intimacy bonuses at 30%, 50%, and 100%. Intimacy bonuses vary between characters and can be viewed on the interaction screen. Currently the intimacy bonus mechanic is unimplemented and intimacy only unlocks a character's still01, they have no actual battle effect on characters.
Intimacy Bonuses can include:
- DEF +5 / +7 / +13
- HP +5 / +7 / +13
- RES +5 / +7 / +13
- Nature Boost
Icon | Name | Intimacy |
---|---|---|
Yellow Gift Box |
10 | |
Purple Gift Box |
5 | |
Blue Gift Box | 3 | |
Green Gift Box | 1 |
Proficiency
Generally, it's recommended to avoid this system entirely.
Proficiency is a small stat bonus gained through expending Draco and character duplicates. The maximum proficiency level is 99. Proficiency bonuses experience diminishing returns very quickly. At the moment, it's not a wise use of Draco to enhance any of your characters past +10 at the absolute most, with +7 or +8 being a fair stopping point. The stat gains at around +7 quickly drop and become very minimal. Since it's not easy to farm large amounts of Draco or duplicates, enhancing characters to high proficiency is very difficult with minimal gain. Due to the hundreds of dupes required and the extremely low success rates at the highest levels it's very unlikely you will ever reach +99.
- Proficiency can enhance HP, Attack, Defense, Reposition, and Attack Speed. This is the only way to improve base reposition and attack speed.
- The cost and number of duplicates needed to increase Proficiency increases with Proficiency level.
- At higher levels, upgrades can fail. These only consumes the Draco and not the duplicates.
- Stat gains are different between characters, and there is no known formula for their gains.
- The stat gains are flat and works independent of what level your character is. You will gain the same stat boost between giving +1 proficiency to a Lv 1 Romanes, and a Lv 50 Romanes.
- Proficiency doesn't scale with Rank either, so a Bronze Rank Anima will have the same flat stat increases as a Silver Rank Anima.
- +1 gives the largest boost in stats. Subsequent boosts will give less stat gains and increasingly severe diminishing returns. At the moment, upgrading a character past +8 isn't much worth the cost unless you really like a character.
- The max Proficiency level is +99 and requires several hundred duplicates.
- The final proficiency increase for a 4-star costs 1,250,000 Draco, 7 Dupes, and has success rate of 0.5%.
- If you somehow manage to reach +99 proficiency for a specific character it doesn't affect any scouting pool. The character can still be scouted at anytime.
- Only a couple characters have been seen at +99, but they seemed to show an overall 10% increase in HP, Attack, and Attack Speed, and around a 30% increase in Defense (compared using max level Bronze rank).
Conclusion
Upgrading characters to reach their maximum potential can be a long and tedious process. It's generally recommended to follow this pattern for most characters:
- Intimacy (if they have a still01)
- Level up
- Rank up, then level to ~50.
- Skill upgrades
- Finish leveling
- Proficiency (can be ignored entirely)