Resonance is the fixed-growth ladder that sits underneath every Aniimo you decide to invest in. It has two moving parts, Star-Up and Ascend, and the early story quest Resonance & Ascension asks you to push one creature through the first Ascension to prove you understand both. The whole thing takes a couple of minutes once you know where the buttons are.
Quick answer: Level the Aniimo to its cap, open Aniimo Management, press Training, go to the Star Up tab, finish the stage’s Star-Ups, then press Ascend to enter Stage 2.
How to unlock Resonance Star-Up in Aniimo
Resonance becomes available once you reach Intermediate Student, the second character level, and answer Dr. Lewis’ quiz correctly during the mission “Dewdrop Crystals of the Sea of Flowers.” A short tutorial fires the first time you open the screen.
After that, the path never changes. Open Aniimo Management, highlight the creature you want to raise, and press Training. The Training screen holds the Star Up tab alongside Skills, and the in-game Help entry there refers to the system as Resonance Star-Up.
Raise an Aniimo to Resonance Stage 2
Confirm the Stage 2 ascension worked
A full-screen banner reading “Ascended to stage 2” appears immediately, listing “Gained: ATK/BREAK/HP +2%” underneath. Press anywhere to close it.
Two numbers back that up. The creature’s CP jumps on the profile card, and the stage indicator on the Star Up tab now shows the new stage with a fresh set of empty nodes. In the Helion example, levelling to 35 moved CP from 857 to 1010, and the Ascension pushed it to 1080.
Back out to the overworld and the quest tracker updates on its own. “Own 1 Aniimo with Resonance at Tier 2” flips to [1/1] with a green check, and a Claim Rewards prompt appears for Resonance & Ascension.
Star Up and Ascend: how the ladder repeats
Star-Up fills the stage you are currently in and hands out flat attribute increases. Ascend moves you into the next stage and applies that stage’s own bonus. The loop is Star-Up, Star-Up, Ascend, and it runs the same way all the way to the top.
Nothing here is a roll. You pay a stated amount and receive a stated gain, which makes Resonance one of the few systems you can budget for in advance. Reaching the required level only unlocks the gate, though, and it never performs the Ascension for you. If Ascend looks locked, check the level and the materials separately.
Resonance stage gates, entry costs and bonuses
| Stage | Level | Entry cost | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Open, no cost | None |
| 2 | Lv 35 | 20 Dewdrops + 2 stones | ATK/BREAK/HP +2% |
| 3 | Lv 35 | 25 Dewdrops + 4 stones | REGEN/P.DEF/M.DEF +2% |
| 4 | Lv 40 | 30 Dewdrops + 6 stones | Counter Boost +20% |
| 5 | Lv 50 | 40 Dewdrops + 8 stones | Awakening Count +5 |
| 6 | Lv 60 | 50 Dewdrops + 10 stones + 1 Phenomena Crystal | Awakening Count +8 |
| 7 | Lv 65 | 60 Dewdrops + 10 stones + 2 Phenomena Crystals | Awakening Count +10 |
The number of Star-Up nodes grows with the stage. Stage 1 has one, Stage 2 has two, and so on up to six in Stage 6. Stage 7 is the terminal Ascension and adds no further nodes. Taking a single Aniimo the whole way costs 870 regional Dewdrop Crystals, 40 elemental stones and 3 Phenomena Crystals.
Resonance stages are not evolution stages. Lumin, Gamma and Nova describe where a creature sits in its evolution line and need evolution materials instead. A Stage 2 Resonance ascension does not change the creature’s form.
Star-Up costs and stat gains by position
| Star-Up | Dewdrop cost | Stat gain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | ATK +10, BREAK +5 |
| 2 | 25 | P.DEF +5, M.DEF +5 |
| 3 | 30 | HP +320, REGEN +8 |
| 4 | 40 | P.DEF +5, M.DEF +5 |
| 5 | 50 | ATK +10, BREAK +5 |
| 6 | 60 | HP +320, REGEN +8 |
Those positions repeat inside every larger stage, so the cost per node climbs steadily the deeper you go. The cheap early nodes are a trap if you scatter crystals across half your box.
Reserve the next Ascension cost before you spend on the current stage’s final Star-Up, otherwise you finish the stage and sit there unable to move into the next one.
Which materials Resonance uses
| Material | Used for |
|---|---|
| Regional Dewdrop Crystal | Every Star-Up and every Ascension |
| Assigned elemental stone | Entering the next stage |
| Flux Crystal | Substitute when the elemental stone is short |
 Phenomena Crystal | Extra cost at the Stage 6 and 7 gates |
Each Aniimo names its own regional Dewdrop Crystal and its own elemental stone on its profile, so check those two lines before you plan a farm. Emberpup and Glynsera both draw on Breezy Plains Dewdrop Crystal, for instance, but their Ascension stones differ.
Crystals come from Elite Training, Alpha and Omega encounters, Pathfinder challenges, level rewards, the Companion Handbook, shops and chests. Catching duplicates is not the farm, whatever the tutorial quiz tries to bait you into picking, and Flux Crystal never replaces the regional Dewdrop cost of a Star-Up node.
Star Dust, Star Sand and Star Essence belong to Capability Awakening, not Resonance. They raise Acquired Potential inside caps that open up with level and Resonance star rank, which is a separate budget line.
There is no refund once materials are spent, but the investment is not completely locked to one creature either. Inherit moves both Resonance stage and star rank to an eligible member of the same family, which protects a developed profile if you later catch a better roll in that line. Build one profile properly, then decide whether a second is worth starting from zero.
