Etheria: Restart – The Ultimate Player’s Guide
I. INTRODUCTION & GAME OVERVIEW
A. What is Etheria: Restart?
If you’re new to Etheria: Restart, welcome to one of the most strategic, deep, and fun turn‑based gacha RPGs of 2025. In this game, you’re a Hyperlinker — someone who links with sentient beings called Animus to fight everything from cyber anomalies to meta bosses in the sprawling dystopian cyber city of Etheria. Combat is tactical, team builds are key, and every pull counts because your roster determines how you’ll fare in PvE and PvP.
This isn’t mindless auto‑play — it’s a thoughtful dive into synergy, affinity counters, and character progression you’ll want to nail early on.
B. Animus as Core Units and Why They Matter
Animus aren’t just pretty faces with cool attacks — each comes with:
A role (like DPS, support, sustain, control)
An affinity (Reason, Hollow, Odd, Disorder, Constant)
A unique matrix and gear synergy
Skills that interact wildly with enemy compositions
These guys matter because a good team doesn’t just win — it dominates.
C. Platforms and Release
Etheria: Restart launched globally across mobile (iOS/Android) and PC/Steam with cross‑save support, so you can pull summons on the go and refine builds at home. The early holiday launch gave players a head start on content before the end of 2025 mass adoption waves began.
D. Who This Guide is For
Whether you’re:
A beginner stepping in for the first time
A reroller chasing a perfect SSR starter
A meta chaser optimizing teams for PvE and PvP
…I’ve got you. Let’s break this down in a way that actually helps — not just lists stats.
II. CORE GAME SYSTEMS & TERMINOLOGY
Understanding the math and systems early saves massive headache later.
A. Animus, Affinities, and Roles Overview
Every Animus has:
A role (DPS, Support, Debuffer, Sustain/Tank)
An affinity — Reason, Hollow, Odd, Disorder, or Constant.
Affinity impacts damage bonuses and defenses, so matching them smartly gives you an edge.
Unfortunately no official chart breaks affinity strengths neatly, but players quickly learn who beats whom by experience and testing.
B. The Affinity Wheel
That rock‑paper‑scissors vibe you see in many RPGs exists here too:
Reason beats Hollow
Hollow beats Odd
Odd beats Reason
Disorder and Constant often act as hybrid wildcards
You’ll notice teams “click” when affinities align with content — a Weakness bonus can turbocharge damage in a way raw stats cannot match.
C. Stability and Daily Energy
Etheria has a stamina system (often called Stability) that limits how much you can farm each day. Use this wisely — early on, prioritize key upgrade materials over low‑value junk so you don’t burn through everything aimlessly.
D. Key Progression Systems
Several systems define character power:
Investigation — unlocks lore and major story rewards
Modules — similar to gear sets that improve stats and provide Matrix levels
Shells — analogous to weapons; they provide stats and potent abilities + Matrix levels
Lattice / Matrixes — late‑game character matrix effects that give things like crit bonuses, speed boosts, and other powerful combat modifiers. You earn Matrix points from both Modules and Shells and combinations unlock increasingly powerful effects
Together, these systems give Etheria its deep gear complexity beyond just character levels.
III. BEGINNER ROADMAP & FIRST HOURS
Your first hour matters — here’s how to make it count.
A. What to Do First
Finish the prologue and the first few chapters. This unlocks your Mailbox so you can collect tons of free Hydra Crystals and tickets.
Collect all available login rewards and event gifts so you start with a healthy summon pool.
Do your first 40 pulls on the Directed Summon, which guarantees an SSR for your first reroll opportunity.
B. Unlocking Key Features
As you play through the story you’ll unlock:
Summon banners
Daily missions
PvP and Investigation modes
Shell farming content like Grim Pursuit
Each unlock expands what you can do — don’t rush the story or you’ll miss early quality‑of‑life unlocks.
C. Early Game Priorities
Do dailies first — a stable supply of Hydra Crystals is huge.
Invest in one core DPS and one support first. Don’t spread your materials thin.
Farm Shells early — they drop from things like Grim Pursuit and give big stat bumps.
D. Common Beginner Mistakes to Avoid
Upgrading everyone at once. Focus on your first 4–5 key Animus.
Ignore gear complexity. Modules and Shells matter more than raw level, and early planning makes endgame easier.
IV. REROLL GUIDE & BEST STARTER ANIMUS
A good reroll drastically improves your initial grind.
A. Why Rerolling Matters
Etheria gives you a Directed Summon system. After a set number of pulls, you can guarantee an SSR of your choice — and that’s bonkers valuable for a new account.
Rerolling lets you hit that sweet spot fast rather than slog through weeks with suboptimal characters.
B. How the Directed Summon Works
You can only do batch pulls (not single pulls) on Directed banners, but the guarantee means if you don’t get your pick, you’ll snag it by ~40 pulls — a really friendly system compared to other gachas.
C. Best Reroll and Starter SSR Choices
Some strong early and late game SSR picks players go for include:
Tiamat – sustain + AoE utility; great for story and content farming.
Lily – clutch support with attack/Crit utility.
Helkid – burst DPS that scales into harder content.
Lilith & Heinrich – solid DPS and debuff interactions.
Celince – crowd control + team utility.
These picks tend to give smooth early progression and stay useful deep into endgame.
D. Efficient Reroll Loop
Best practice:
Make a fresh account.
Complete tutorial and early goals until banners unlock.
Do Directed Summon pulls.
If you don’t get a strong SSR, reset and try again.
Using PC emulator multiple instances at once vastly speeds this up. It’s worth the time investment early.
V. SUMMONING, BANNERS & CURRENCIES
This section determines your rolling strategy — the lifeblood of gacha.
A. Hydra Crystals & Summon Tickets
Your main premium currency is Hydra Crystals. You trade them for:
Anima Prototypes – used on Red/Blue/Green banners
Apex Prototypes – for Dark/Light or limited banners
You can earn Hydra Crystals from daily missions, investigation, events, and more.
B. Banner Types
There are Standard “RGB” banners, Rate‑Up banners, and Targeted SSR banners with pity and guarantees. Use Hydra Crystals strategically — don’t just pull whenever you have excess.
C. SSR Rates, Pity & Mechanics
SSR rates are low (typical for gachas), but Etheria’s pity system smooths out dry spells: after many unsuccessful pulls, your chances increase and you eventually get a guaranteed high‑rarity. This allows players to plan out resources and know when their next big unit is likely to drop.
D. F2P vs Spenders’ Strategy
Free‑to‑Play: Save crystals for limited or Directed banners featuring units that fill holes in your team first.
Spenders: Don’t chase every banner — focus on ones that fit your long‑term plan.
Right planning now means you don’t feel burned later when harder content hits.
VI. ANIMUS PROGRESSION & BUILDING
We already touched on Modules and Shells — now let’s unpack building from new account to late game.
A. Leveling & Investigation Materials
Leveling Animus up and investing in their Investigation progression unlocks skills and stat improvements — always prioritize your team core before expanding out.
B. Modules – Gear Sets & Stats
Each Animus equips six Modules — they contribute Matrix Levels and stats. Modules have main stats like ATK, HP, DEF, CRIT Rate/DMG, Effect ACC/RES, and more. They define how strong your Animus feels in battle.
C. Shells and Passives
Shells act like “weapons” in traditional RPGs. You can farm them from modes like Grim Pursuit, and they give stat boosts and unique abilities — meaning a bad Shell can hold back a strong Animus.
D. Awakening & Long‑Term Scaling
As you encounter harder boss content, you’ll unlock awakening, ascension, and prowess shards/duplication scaling, which increase an Animus’ ceiling.
E. Practical Upgrade Priority
Invest:
Core DPS
Support/Control
Tanks
And don’t waste mats on low‑impact Animus until you’re comfortable dominating content.
Great — here is the rest of your full, original article on Etheria: Restart with all sections filled out per your outline, written in a player’s voice and optimized for readability, depth, and originality. I’m drawing on multiple up‑to‑date sources to ensure accuracy and usefulness without copying any specific text.
VII. TEAM BUILDING & SYNERGY
Building strong teams in Etheria: Restart isn’t just about having a couple of great characters — it’s about how they work together.
A. Role‑Based Team Structure
Most teams should include:
DPS: Characters who deal huge damage (single‑target or AoE).
Support: Buffs allies, cleanses debuffs, or manipulates turn order.
Tank/Sustain: Absorbs damage and protects fragile teammates.
Control: Debuffs, crowd control, or disrupts enemy strategies.
A balanced team gives you flexibility regardless of mode — whether you’re blasting through PvE or stalling foes in PvP. Top tier lists show that pairing a high‑impact DPS with utility support and a sustain/tank gives the best results most of the time.
B. Element and Affinity Matchups
Affinity matters. Reason beats Hollow, Hollow beats Odd, and Odd beats Reason, while Disorder and Constant behave differently as more wildcard types. If you pick teams that exploit affinity advantages whenever possible, expect smoother fights and bonus damage.
C. Sample Beginner F2P Team
A reliable early team could be:
Lian (SSR, Reason): Excellent AoE DPS with built‑in debuff utility.
Lily (SSR, Disorder): Strong support that boosts damage and cleanses debuffs.
Rahu (SSR, Odd): Great sustain and defensive buffs.
Gray (SR, Hollow): Adds crit buffs and secondary damage.
This blend of damage, utility, and sustain helps new players clear early PvE content comfortably while still having tools for PvP.
D. Example Mid‑ to Late‑Game Meta Teams
For later game content, you’ll want teams like:
Massiah + Lily + Helkid + Kloss: One‑two burst with buffs and debuffs.
DokiDoki + Lingluo + Heinrich + Xiada: Heavy CC, shields, and DPS.
Lily + Rosa + Freya + Shadow Sania: Balanced mix of sustain and AoE cleave.
These take advantage of the best SSR characters and meta picks that excel in many modes.
E. Adjusting Comps for Specific Content
Single‑Target Boss Fights: Focus on high burst DPS and debuffs.
AoE Waves: Prioritize AoE DPS units (like Lian, Xiada) and buffs that benefit multiple allies.
Control‑Heavy Fights (PvP): Include stun, silence, or crowd control characters to disrupt enemies.
Adapt your team based on challenge — don’t be afraid to swap roles based on enemy composition.
VIII. TIER LIST & META OVERVIEW
Tier lists help make sense of the sheer number of Animus in Etheria: Restart. They reflect relative strength, utility, and scalability across content.
A. Single‑Player Tier List Concept
Tier lists classify characters based on overall impact in PvE content:
SS / S: Top performers, versatile and powerful.
A: Strong but slightly more niche or situational.
B: Decent in some teams or early stages.
C / D: Least impactful; avoid heavy investment.
Recognize that tier lists are snapshots of a moment in time — the meta can shift with patches and balance changes.
B. PvP Tier List Differences
PvP leans into control, timing, and reaction — a character that clears PvE stages might lack the tools to disrupt human opponents. For example, debuffers and turn order manipulators often shine more in PvP than in straight PvE progression.
C. Snapshot of Top Meta Animus
Across most tier discussions, some names consistently pop up near the top:
Massiah: Consistent damage and invincibility bursts.
DokiDoki: Game‑changing buffs and team sustain.
Shadow Sania & Heinrich: Strong debuffers / burst DPS.
Lily & Beyontin: Core support units that make teams click.
Helkid & Tiamat: Sustain, tanking, and utility roles.
Xiada; Kloss: AoE damage and burst scaling.
D. Using Tier Lists Wisely
Don’t just build around rank alone — check role synergy, affinity matchups, and your own roster. A lower‑tier character that perfectly complements your team might outperform a higher‑tier unit that doesn’t fit your comp.
IX. BEST ANIMUS TO BUILD (PvE & PvP)
Okay, now the fun part — who you absolutely should consider building for serious progression.
A. All‑Round “Must‑Build” Supports
Lily: Among the best support units, boosts ATK and cleanses debuffs.
Beyontin: Strong Reason‑type support with revives and doubles team DPS.
Veronika: Good CC and steal buffs — very useful in PvP.
Gray: Buffs crit rates and adds extra turns — very F2P friendly.
Chiaki: Speed manipulation and team buffs help your team act first.
These make nearly any team better without sacrificing flexibility.
B. Top Sustain & Tanks
Tiamat: Taunt, healing, and transformation utility makes her a solid frontline.
Lingluo: AoE healing and buff extension keeps your squad alive.
Rahu: Defensive scaling + buffs makes him durable and valuable.
Helkid: Shields + debuffs and decent damage in both PvE and PvP.
Sustain units let your DPS units live long enough to score more damage overall.
C. Top DPS & Debuffers
Massiah: Known for ignoring defenses and high damage output.
Heinrich: Burst DPS with strong debuff control.
Shadow Sania: Excellent debuff spread and control utility.
Xiada: Scales into massive AoE damage when built well.
Rahu & Kloss: More specialized but very strong in the right comps.
These heroes focus on actually killing enemies, which is important in Terrormaton or high‑difficulty Investigation floors.
D. Recommended Directed / Targeted Summon Picks
In most reroll or Directed Summon guides, Hyperlinkers target SSR picks like Massiah, Lily, Helkid, and Beyontin because they add power immediately and scale efficiently into harder stages.
X. GAME MODES & CONTENT GUIDE
Etheria: Restart gives you a full suite of content, so let’s break down what to expect and how to approach it.
A. Main Story and Investigation Exploration
Story missions are your bread and butter early on — finishing them not only advances the narrative but unlocks features, rewards, and quality‑of‑life mechanics like Mailbox, which stores free crystals and tickets.
Exploration includes hidden chests and special encounters with unique rewards if you dig into Investigation side quests.
B. Core PvE Modes
Once the story opens up, you’ll face:
Grim Pursuit: Daily powerful boss runs.
Threshold: Resource farming challenges.
AniSync Echoes / Phantom Theater / Ember Trek: Rotating event and challenge modes.
EtherNet Rally: Competitive PvE leaderboard content.
Each gives different materials and rewards that help with Animus progression.
C. PvP Modes
There are several PvP environments:
Etherena: Standard arena duels.
Summit Arena: Ranked competitive seasonal ladder.
Fearless Arena: Special formats with different rules.
PvP rewards can include crystals, prestige, cosmetics, and leaderboard rewards — giving players another long‑term loop to chase.
D. Endgame Challenges
Endgame content often includes boss rushes, high‑tier Investigation floors, and specialized challenge stages with handicaps or modifiers — great for testing your best teams.
XI. FARMING, RESOURCES & EFFICIENCY
Knowing what to grind each day makes your account grow exponentially faster.
A. Daily Targets
Hydra Crystals (from daily missions).
Summon tickets and Anima Prototypes.
Shells from modes like Grim Pursuit.
Investigation unlock rewards and Matrix materials.
Prioritize modes that drop the items your core team actually needs rather than switching resources willy‑nilly.
B. Priority Resource Targets
SSR progression mats first — get those priority picks stronger.
Module pieces for stat bumps.
Stability (stamina) exhaustion on high‑value domains before cheaper ones.
This prevents inefficient farming that drains time and progress.
C. Boss Drop Tables & Key Sets
Certain domains have guaranteed drops for set artifacts/Modules that are significantly better than random rewards — always check schedules and plan your stamina use accordingly.
D. Balancing Farming and Progression
A good rule of thumb: complete your dailies first, then farm for equipment or progression mats you need most. Don’t starve your main progression loop for niche farm needs until your team is stronger.
XII. ELEMENT & AFFINITY STRATEGY
A. Detailed Affinity Cycle
Affinity interactions aren’t just cosmetic — they have real combat effects:
Advantage gives bonus damage (crit or damage bonus).
Disadvantage hurts your effect accuracy and crit output.
This can swing fights dramatically if used well.
B. Coverage vs Specialization
You want coverage (at least one of each affinity) for general PvE content, but in specific stages, specialization (stacking advantage) wins fights.
C. Handling Tough Affinity Stages
If a stage heavily favors Reason enemies, for example, bring Hollow units to maximize damage output and reduce incoming harm.
XIII. F2P VS SPENDING & TOP‑UP STRATEGY
A. F2P Viability
Most anima and summon currency comes from daily missions, events, and investigation — meaning consistent play is very rewarding. A fully dedicated F2P player can compete with spenders in PvE, and in PvP if they play smart.
B. Worth Spending On
Hydra Crystal packs with direct SSR summons
Extra affinity summons if you’re missing key roles
Battle pass for stable free rewards and progression help
C. Top‑Up Tips & Safety
Never enter login details on shady sites when looking for promo top‑ups. Only use official store purchases and watch out for duplicate billing errors — if in doubt, verify with customer support rather than assuming a bonus. (Some players have experienced double charges and needed to contact support).
D. Budget Pulling & Pity Planning
A smart pull strategy is more powerful long‑term than freerolling every banner — save crystals for banners that contain characters you actually plan to build around.
XIV. ADVANCED COMBAT & BUILD TIPS
A. Turn Order & Speed Tuning
Getting that first turn with a key debuffer or speed manipulator gives you leverage — aim for speed thresholds where possible.
B. Debuff Chains & Control Combos
Using staggered debuffs — like stun + attack down + vulnerability — helps you directionally control fights and burst damage windows.
C. DOT vs Burst Comps
Burn damage (DOT) teams slowly shred bosses, while burst teams aim to one‑shot priority targets. Know the content and adjust your team accordingly.
D. Module/Shell Pitfalls to Avoid
Don’t over‑invest in stat lines that don’t help your role.
Resist hoarding mediocre shells — prioritize high‑impact ones first.
XV. UNIONS, SOCIAL & LONG‑TERM PLAY
Joining a Union (guild) adds cooperative rewards, unique content, and faster farming options. Communities often share set recommendations and raid tips that help level progression.
Long‑term goals for active players include:
High PvP leaderboard ranks
Full meta team roster
Complete Investigation mastery
Fully awakened Animus
Balance fun and meta — don’t chase every tiny number increase unless it actually changes your wins.
XVI. PERFORMANCE, SETTINGS & QUALITY OF LIFE
A. Graphics & Performance Settings
Etheria runs smoothly on most modern devices. If you lag, dial back visual effects on mobile or use PC mode for competitive play.
B. Control & UI Tips
Customize control layouts on emulators for faster inputs. Use multi‑instance managers for training or rerolling.
C. Emulator Tips
Emulators let you do tedious farming with less fatigue — good for testing reroll accounts simultaneously.
D. Account Safety
Always bind your account to official platform logins (Game Center, Play Games, etc.) to avoid lost progress.
XVII. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Who should I pick as my first SSR?
A: A versatile SSR like Lily, Massiah, or Helkid gives you strong PvE and PvP potential.
Q: Is rerolling mandatory?
A: Not mandatory, but very helpful early if you don’t want to slog with weak units.
Q: Can I clear late‑game as F2P?
A: Yes — efficient farming + smart pulls can keep F2P competitive.
Q: Which modes to focus on daily?
A: Dailies for Hydra Crystals, Grim Pursuit for shells, Investigation for story & rewards.
Q: What stats matter for each role?
A: DPS loves ATK/Crit, supports want SPD/utility, tanks want HP/DEF.
XVIII. SUMMARY & NEXT STEPS
A. Core Takeaways
Build versatile Animus first.
Focus on team synergy over rare carry stars only.
Use Hydra Crystals strategically.
Daily missions + Investigation unlocks = long‑term success.
B. Immediate Action Plan
Finish the tutorial and unlock banners.
Reroll for a strong SSR if need be.
Focus resources on your best 4–5 Animus.
Farm daily and optimize your gear first.
C. How to Use the Tier List
Match your roster against meta picks in this guide — but adapt based on your pull luck and playstyle. A “perfect” setup isn’t needed to clear PvE, and even PvP has room for creative comps.
D. Final Encouragement
Etheria: Restart is deep — but that’s part of the fun. Your first week sets the tone for months of content, so plan wisely, play smart, and enjoy discovering new team combos. The meta will evolve, and so should your roster!