Aniimo Best Starter — Helion or Lunara? (September 2026)
Helion or Lunara? Aniimo has two starters, both holy element with identical 504 total stats — game8 recommends Lunara for beginners, and neither choice locks you out.
The Aniimo best starter question has a simpler answer than most creature collectors: there are only two starters — Helion and Lunara — they share the holy element and identical total stats (504), and your early game does not meaningfully lock depending on the pick. What differs is how they play in the first hours.
Community report · 2026-09-17Quick answer: pick Lunara if you want the smoother first hours — ranged attacks, self-healing and a holy-resistance debuff make her the community's default beginner recommendation. Pick Helion if you enjoy melee burst DPS and dodging on rhythm. Neither pick is permanent: evolution forms are in-combat transformations, and replacing either later is a normal team decision, not a lost save. Details below.
Screenshots © Pawprint Studio via the official Steam store page.
The two starters at a glance
| Helion | Lunara | |
|---|---|---|
| Element | holy | holy |
| Total stats | 504 | 504 |
| Playstyle | Melee burst DPS; rewards dodge rhythm | Ranged poke with self-sustain |
| Community read | For confident, aggressive players | Easier, safer early game |
Both starters being holy-element with mirrored stat totals is the reason veteran players keep saying the choice is about feel, not power. The full per-skill breakdown lives in game8's starter comparison — we link rather than copy it, because skill numbers are patch-sensitive and we prefer not to re-type numbers we cannot re-verify each patch.
Community report · 2026-09-17Why the community recommends Lunara first
Two independent sources converge on the same advice:
- game8's editorial pick is Lunara for new players — ranged attacks, built-in self-healing, and a Light-resistance debuff make her forgiving while you are still learning Aniimo's combat rhythm.
- A pre-launch server experience post lands the same way: "Lunara is the best starter choice … easier, safer combat experience," with Helion suited to players who enjoy melee pressure and dodging on beat.
Helion is not a trap pick — it is the crowd favourite for players who like big melee numbers, and the "wrong starter" regret threads you will see on the subreddit are mostly aesthetic second-guessing rather than power complaints.
The catch that makes this choice low-stakes
Here is the nuance almost every beginner misses: Soleon and Fennelun — the Helion and Lunara evolution forms — are not permanent evolutions. They are ult-triggered, in-combat transformations that revert when the fight ends, and they do not occupy a slot in the creature database. In the words of the tooling-site author who has been tracking the game since beta: "Pick whichever you like the look of, you're not locking anything in."
Community report · 2026-09-15Because that mechanic is currently documented by a single dedicated source, we label it (to be verified) — but nothing we have seen contradicts it, and it matches how players talk about mid-game team building.
Can you replace your starter later?
Yes — swapping starters into and out of your main team is a normal progression decision, not a one-way door. Community discussion about replacing Helion mid-game treats it as a resource question (what you invest to raise the replacement), not a possible-to-recover one. We will expand this section with verified rework costs once the creature database and progression data settle.
Community report · 2026-09-16FAQ
Is the Aniimo starter choice three-way? No — Aniimo launches with two starters, Helion and Lunara. If you have seen a three-pick claim, it is carried over from other creature collectors or older beta material.
Which starter is best for co-op? (to be verified) — co-op balance reports are still thin; the known co-op pain point is save progression being tied to the host, not starter performance. See the beginner guide for what that means.
Does my starter evolve permanently? Current community documentation says the starter evolutions (Soleon / Fennelun) are combat-only transformations that revert out of battle. Marked (to be verified) above until official sources confirm.
What to read next
The evolution guide tracks how transformation and evolution chains work across the whole roster, the tier list shows which mid-game pickups are worth chasing, and the codes page has the two launch gift codes — including one that grants Aniipod Pro ×5, which directly helps your early catching.