How to gear your Animus – Build Guide

If you’re new to Etheria: Restart and wondering how to build your characters, this guide will walk you through everything from stat scaling and gear choices to shell optimization. Building your Animus the right way is crucial for smooth progression—and it all starts with understanding their role.

Each character generally fits into one or more core roles:

• [DPS]: Focused on dealing damage
• [Tank]: Built to absorb hits and control enemies
• [Support]: Buffs allies or debuffs enemies
• [Healer]: Restores HP, sometimes revives
• [Turn Pusher]: Increases team turn meter or manipulates tempo

Knowing your Animus’ main role informs how you’ll build them. You can usually confirm a character’s purpose by reading their skills and passives—especially what stat they scale from (e.g., [ATK], [HP], [DEF]).

Each Animus has a Prowess tree—a linear skill enhancement path. As you level up your Prowess, you’ll hit breakpoints where you need a rare item called Perfect Lattice. These are scarce, even for spenders, so only invest them into core characters you plan to use long-term (e.g., Freya, Tiamat, Beyontin).

Lian is a great example of a balanced unit. Her damage scales entirely off [ATK], so you’ll want to prioritize [Attack], [Speed], and [Crit Damage] on her gear. While she can dish out AoE nukes, she also brings strong utility reducing turn meter.

For gear:

• Use Onslaught (ATK%) to scale damage
• Mix in Speed substats to help her rotate
• Aim for as much [Crit Rate] as possible, ideally 90%+, then stack [Crit Damage]

Balance her between damage and tempo utility.

Tiamat is a self-sustaining tank who converts [HP] into damage and utility. All of her skills scale off max [HP], and many consume her current [HP] to activate effects like AoE nukes, shields, and taunts.

Ideal gear stats include:

• [HP%] on every piece
• Some [Speed] to help rotate faster
• Possibly [Effect RES]/[ACC] for debuffs
• Avoid stacking crit—she’s not a nuker in the traditional sense

When equipping her shell and sets, aim for survivability. Sets like Wellspring [HP] or Bramble [DEF] + reflect are great early on. Your goal is to keep her alive long enough to reach her empowered form and dominate with her massive AoE.

Shells are another layer of customization, offering stat boosts and passive effects. You want your shell stats to match your Animus’ role:

• DPS: [ATK%], [Crit DMG], [Speed]
• Tank: [HP%], [DEF%], [Effect RES]
• Support/Turn Push: [Speed], [Effect ACC], sometimes [HP]

Matrix Sets are the gear in Etheria: Restart. Each individual matrix has between 1–3 points towards the set bonus. With set bonuses falling into either —12/8/6. You’ll eventually want:

• A 12-point major set (e.g. [Onslaught] for DPS, Wellspring for tanks)
• An 8-point minor set (e.g. [Bramble] or [Harvest])
• A 6-point finisher for synergy

Avoid putting two 12-point sets together, as you’ll be locked out of finishing your build.

Borgne is unique: his damage scales off [ATK], but he cannot crit. This changes his build completely:

• Stack [ATK], [HP], and [Speed]
• Avoid all [Crit Rate] and [Crit Damage]—they are wasted stats
• [Effect ACC] is useful for his debuff

Very easy to gear early because he ignores two entire stat lanes

This makes him ideal for beginners: big damage, simple build path, no crit stress.

Healers in Etheria don’t always scale off [HP]. Dorothy, for instance, heals based on her [ATK] not [HP]. That means:

• Use Onslaught or Attack Shells
• Focus on Speed so she can rotate quickly
• Avoid stacking [HP] as her heals scale from damage dealt or [ATK%]

Dorothy benefits greatly from cooldown reductions and is one of the few early healers who can keep up without needing ultra-rare gear.

Turn meter manipulators like Freya benefit most from Speed, Survivability, and Skill Cooldown Reduction. Freya brings strong utility like turn push, debuff cleanse, and [Dreamweave]/[Nightmare] effects. These provide sustain and damage amp, making her usable even when she’s at elemental disadvantage.

Freya’s main goal is to rotate constantly while staying alive. Build her with:

• [Speed] sets and [Speed] subs
• [HP%] or [DEF%] for sustain
• Don’t worry about damage stats

You’ll also want to equip a Shell that boosts turn speed or grants team-wide buffs when rotating.

The biggest beginner mistake is assuming all DPS should be built the same. Every character scales differently—sometimes off [HP] (Tiamat), sometimes off [ATK] (Lian), and sometimes very uniquely (Borgne, who scales [HP] off [ATK] but can’t crit).

Always check skill tooltips for phrases like “deals damage equal to X% of [stat]” and match your gear accordingly. You’ll avoid wasting resources and see way better performance in fights.

Here is your formatted content, ready to copy:

• Don’t stress about early optimization. Gear improves as you play.
• Fish for substats at +3 to +6. If a piece rolls badly (e.g. crit on Borgne), ditch it early.
• Use trash gear to power up what matters. Coin returns and crafting keep your inventory flowing.
• Adapt builds by game mode. What works in Story might not work in Inferno or PvP.

There’s no single “perfect build”—your needs change as you reach harder content. But starting with the right stat priorities and role understanding will carry you far.