Anime Expeditions Guide: Best Beginner Tips and Strategy
Master the early game with this comprehensive Anime Expeditions guide. Learn the best banners, top units, trait rerolls, and story mode tips.
Jumping into a new tower defense game can feel like stepping into a whirlwind of menus, currencies, and units. If you are starting out, this comprehensive Anime Expeditions guide is here to help you navigate the chaos and set you on the path to victory. Navigating the early game requires a smart strategy, making an Anime Expeditions guide your best tool for avoiding common progression traps.
By focusing on the right game modes, saving your valuable resources, and targeting the strongest characters, you can build a dominant team in no time. Below, we break down the essential steps every beginner should take during their first few hours of play.
Navigating the Beginner Path and Launching Your Journey
When you first spawn into the game, you will be greeted by dozens of active quests, event boards, upgrades, and various locations scattered across the map. Without a strict, forced tutorial, it is incredibly easy to lose track of your objectives and waste time grinding the wrong content.
To prevent this, your very first destination should be the Beginner Path event. Before you take your first steps, however, make sure to redeem any active codes. Redeeming these codes provides an immediate boost by granting you free trait crystals and gems.
The Beginner Path acts as a self-guided tutorial designed to teach you all of the game's core mechanics. By completing these simple side quests and challenges, you will learn how to summon units, upgrade characters, equip gear, and progress through the story mode.
Furthermore, completing the Beginner Path rewards you with essential starting resources. The table below outlines the primary rewards you can expect to earn from this event:
Mastering the Summoning System: Which Banners to Prioritize
One of the most common mistakes new players make is spending their gems the moment they receive them. The game features multiple summoning banners, and understanding the differences between them is key to building a strong team.
As you progress through the Beginner Path, you will accumulate Beginner Tickets. These should be spent immediately on the Beginner's Banner. This banner is your absolute highest priority in the early game because it offers guaranteed higher-tier units at much lower pity thresholds than any other banner.
Once you have exhausted your Beginner Tickets, you must decide how to spend your hard-earned gems. You will have to choose between the Standard Banner and the Mini Banner.
To help you decide where to invest your gems, use this Anime Expeditions guide banner comparison table:
As a general rule, stick to the Standard Banner first to build a solid foundation of units. Once you have a reliable team and are looking for specific characters to optimize your synergy, you can transition to spending your gems on the Mini Banner.
Building a Dominant Team: Top Units to Target
Your main objective in the game is to assemble a dominant team of anime characters. While late-game players will eventually chase incredibly rare Secret units, beginners should focus on acquiring strong, reliable DPS (damage per second) units to clear early stages.
According to player experience and community reports, there are several standout units that can carry you through the early and mid-game content. The table below lists the top units you should aim to summon:
While Secret units like Shadow and the 8th Sword are the ultimate goal, do not worry if you cannot obtain them right away. Focus on building a team around the core DPS units listed above to progress efficiently.
Why Story Mode is Your Ultimate Priority
The game launches with a massive variety of content, including raids, challenges, events, guilds, and expeditions. It can be incredibly tempting to jump into these modes immediately, but doing so is often a waste of time for underleveled teams.
Instead, completing the Story Mode should be your primary objective during the early game. Clearing story chapters is the most efficient way to progress because it unlocks new content, rewards you with large quantities of gems, and helps you unlock better units.
Additionally, completing all the maps in Story Mode will reward you with rare equipment that boosts your team's overall power. Progressing through the story is also the only way to unlock advanced progression systems.
As this Anime Expeditions guide emphasizes, completing the story stages is the direct gateway to:
- Raids
- Unit Evolution
- Mastery Farming
- The Expedition System
Trait Crystals and Rerolls: Avoid the Starter Trap
Traits in the game provide massive boosts to your units' combat capabilities. A common mistake among beginners is immediately using their Trait Crystals to reroll traits on their starter units.
Because you will replace your starter units with Mythics or Legendaries within a few hours of playing, spending Trait Crystals early is a complete waste of resources. Save your crystals until you have secured powerful, long-term units.
Traits can drastically improve a unit's performance by boosting several key statistics. These include:
- Damage Output
- Range
- SPA (Seconds Per Attack)
- Critical Chance
- Critical Damage
Some of the most powerful traits in the game are extremely rare and have the lowest drop rates. The table below details these elite traits:
Always save your Trait Crystals for these top-tier traits on your best units, rather than wasting them on temporary starter characters.
The Road to Unit Evolution and Material Farming
Evolving your units is one of the single largest power spikes you can achieve. However, gathering the necessary evolution materials can be a tedious grind if you do not start early.
To evolve a unit, you will need a combination of colored Sprites, Grey Sprites, Gold, and special items obtained by completing specific unit trials.
Because Grey Sprites can be converted into any colored Sprite, they are the most valuable evolution resource. Make sure to collect as many Grey Sprites as possible by completing challenges, events, and beginner missions from the moment you start playing.
Additionally, make a habit of checking all the free reward menus every time you log in. You can accumulate a steady stream of passive income by regularly checking the Daily Calendar, Achievements, Level Milestones, Quest Rewards, Unit Index, and Event tabs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which banner is best for beginners to use?
The Beginner's Banner is the best option for new players because it uses Beginner Tickets and offers guaranteed higher-tier units at a much lower pity rate than other banners. Once those tickets are gone, you should use this Anime Expeditions guide strategy to focus on the Standard Banner for general roster building, and the Mini Banner when chasing specific units.
Should I use my Trait Rerolls on starter units?
No, you should never use your Trait Rerolls on starter units. You will replace these units very quickly once you unlock Mythic or Legendary characters. Save your Trait Crystals for powerful, permanent units to avoid wasting rare resources.
What is the most important game mode to play first?
You should prioritize Story Mode before attempting any other game mode. Clearing story chapters unlocks new systems, rewards you with gems, provides rare equipment, and prepares your team for advanced content like raids and expeditions.