Aniimo Best Starter: Lunara or Helion?

The best starter in Aniimo is Lunara for most players, and Helion if you already enjoy aggressive action combat. That is my verdict after three betas, and I can defend both halves of it, because "best starter" is not a stat question here: the two share an element, a role and a 504 attribute total. Lunara wins on safety and versatility. Helion wins on aggression and spectacle.

Two starters, one choice, and when Aniimo launches you may not be able to take that choice back. On one side a tiny moon fox with giant blue eyes who looks like she should be protected at all costs. On the other a fearless lion pup powered by the sun who already looks ready to fight the final boss. It sounds like a personality test, except both of them have the exact same base stats: same HP, same attack, matching defences, same role, same element.

So if the numbers are tied, why did they feel so different across three betas? That is what this piece is for. Everything below comes from my beta 3 testing, with the site's own numbers checked against our Aniidex as we go, and where my notes and the index disagree I say so instead of picking the flattering version.

The best starter, in one block

Best starter for most players: Lunara. Best starter for melee players: Helion. You are not picking a stronger creature, you are picking a rhythm: kite and shred, or gather and detonate. Find yourself in the left column.

You are…	Pick	Why
New to Aniimo, or to action combat generally	Lunara	Ranged basic attacks, so you learn dodge timing from a safer distance, with HP trickling back on every marked hit
Comfortable with dodges and want the impact	Helion	Pulls a whole camp into one spot, then lands a dive that hits everything at once
Learning a boss, or fighting spread-out targets	Lunara	Lumin Bolts prioritises three different targets and strips Light RES while you stay out of reach
Farming packs in the open world	Helion	Holy Storm drags the fight to the centre, which is where all of Helion's damage already is
Building around a Light team	Lunara	Fox Mark is a team-wide Light resistance shred, up to 15% on a target, not a personal buff
Picking with your heart	Either, guilt free	The stat lines are identical: the bond is the one variable the balance team never touched

One warning before the detail, and it is the reason this decision deserves five minutes rather than five seconds: no launch system currently guarantees you can own the starter you leave behind. More on that below.

Two Light DPS, one stat line

Aniimo does starters differently from the game you are probably comparing it to. Lunara and Helion are not a fire, water and grass trio. They are two Light DPS written directly into the opening story: you take one as your partner, and in every beta build the other left with your rival. Launch balancing can still change that framing, so treat the rival detail as beta behaviour rather than a confirmed launch system.

What is not in doubt is the stat sheet, and it is the same sheet twice.

Base stat	Lunara and Fennelun	Helion and Soleon
HP	90	90
P. ATK	116	116
M. ATK	85	85
P. DEF	65	65
M. DEF	65	65
Haste	83	83
Total attributes	504	504

Checked against this site's data: all four entries, the two starters and the two forms their Ultimates turn them into, carry that identical line in our Aniidex. One wording note while we are here. In the video I read those numbers as 90 HP, 116 attack, 85 break and a matching regeneration value; the index labels the same three as P. ATK 116, M. ATK 85 and Haste 83. Different labels, the same numbers, and the conclusion is unchanged: there is no secret statistical winner. It also means the "ranged magic attacker" description I use for Lunara below is about how she fights, not about a different scaling column, because her P. ATK and M. ATK match Helion's exactly.

Both are Nova stage in the index with an empty evolution list, so unlike the creatures you catch in Idyll, neither starter climbs a Lumin to Gamma to Nova line. They arrive fully grown, which is a large part of why they hold up so well later.

One more thing that applies to both, straight out of their traits: each gets +20% final damage when it is not attacking with an advantageous element. Check that against the element chart and it is quietly generous. Light is super effective into only two elements, Dark and Wind, and is resisted by Lightning and by Light itself, so for most of the game your starter is fighting off-element and collecting that 20% instead. Defensively, Light is one of the cleanest types in the game: only Dark hits it hard.

Lunara: the moon fox who fights at range

Lunara is designed to win you over before the fight even begins. Snowy fur, enormous blue eyes, soft cyan accents. The cuteness is insane, and this is the partner you choose because you want it walking beside you for the rest of the game.

That appearance is slightly deceptive, because Lunara is a dangerous ranged attacker. Instead of standing next to an enemy, Lunara kites from a safer distance and pressures multiple targets with projectiles. That alone makes the early game more forgiving while you are still learning enemy animations, dodge timing and EP management, EP being the resource your abilities run on.

What the kit actually does

The whole thing is built around momentum. Lumin Bolts fires three Light projectiles, prioritising different targets, and applies Fox Mark: each stack cuts the target's Light resistance by 5%, stacking three times for 10 seconds. Moon Impact drops a full moon on a marked enemy for extra area damage, Lunar Eclipse pours on heavy extra break damage, and once an enemy's break gauge empties it is stunned and open to your team's biggest hits. Moon-Washed hands back 20 EP, so you are not waiting on a teammate to restart a rotation.

Then there is Lunar Power, the trait doing the heavy lifting. Every skill or Ultimate grants four stacks of Silver Moon Mark, and each basic attack hit spends one for 100% extra damage and 0.5% of max HP back. That is the thing Helion does not get from the start: reliable ranged pressure with sustain folded into your normal damage.

Two footnotes from our index. Moon Impact's bonus against a marked target is listed at 10% area damage, which is small, so Fox Mark earns its slot as a resistance shred your whole Light team benefits from rather than as a personal combo. And the EP point cuts both ways: Helion's Sun-Kissed also restores 20 EP, and 25 when enhanced, so self-sufficiency is not a Lunara exclusive.

Where Lunara asks more of you

Her best output requires setup. You want Fox Mark active, you want to spend Silver Moon Marks efficiently, and you need to alternate skills with basic attacks instead of throwing everything out at once. When enemies are spread across the battlefield that flexibility feels incredible. When you want to dive into a group and delete it immediately, Helion feels more direct.

Helion: the sun lion who drags the fight to him

Helion creates the exact opposite emotion. Where Lunara feels soft and mysterious, Helion is loud, confident and heroic. The golden mane, sharp brows and little fangs sell the fantasy of raising a future king. Helion does not look like it needs protecting, it looks like it is about to protect you.

What the kit actually does

That personality carries straight into combat: close-range pressure, grouping and burst. The trait, Solar Grace, grants [Solar Halo] every four basic attacks to enhance the next skill, which is why Helion rewards a steady rhythm rather than mashing everything at once. Sun-Kissed restores 20 EP, or 25 with Solar Halo up. Holy Roar stacks 6% Light damage amplification three times for 20 seconds, up to 18%. Holy Storm spins through everything nearby and pulls it towards the centre, and that pull is the point: Lunara answers separated targets from range, Helion wants the whole fight in one pile. Light Bombardment finishes the fantasy by launching him into the air and crashing down into a light explosion.

The risk you are signing for

Here is the honest trade. Helion and Lunara have identical defensive stats even though Helion has to fight at close range, so he accepts more positional risk without any extra base durability for doing it. The kit compensates with crowd control, EP recovery, burst and the healing that arrives after his Ultimate, but a beginner will need to understand dodge timing sooner as Helion than as Lunara.

If I had one request for launch, it is that Helion's reward always matches that risk: strong hit confirmation, reliable melee tracking, and a clearly readable defensive window during the aerial attacks. That is what would make the lion feel powerful without making it effortless.

What their evolutions really are

This is where the decision got interesting across the betas. In the early phases, players could evolve Lunara into Fennelun and Helion into what was then called the Blazing Sun Lion. That evolution replaced the smaller starter, which was a genuine problem for anyone who picked their partner for its design.

Beta 3 found a much better solution: both final forms became temporary battle transformations fired by the Ultimate. Lunara casts Selene's Judgment, deals massive damage, becomes Fennelun until combat ends, gains 15% extra damage and four Silver Moon Marks back. Helion casts Helios' Judgment, becomes Soleon, takes the same 15%, and gains the Ring of the Golden Sun, which boosts Light Bombardment, adds healing on it, and has a 75% chance not to be consumed when it fires. You get the power fantasy of the final form without permanently losing the little fox or the lion pup you became attached to.

Where our data lands: the index is on beta 3's side. Neither starter carries an evolution line at all. Fennelun and Soleon exist as their own entries flagged as in-combat transformations of Lunara and Helion, with identical stats and identical skill lists to the base form, and the only gains are written into the Ultimate's own text: the 15%, the marks, the ring. There is no evolution level to hit and nothing to farm towards. That makes the temporary reading the strongest evidence we have for launch, though it is not a promise the final build cannot change, so treat it as unconfirmed until the servers are live.

Two naming notes, because the beta and the index do not always agree. The moon line's transformed form is Fennelun, not Fenrir, and the sun line's is Soleon, the Blazing Sun Lion being the earlier beta name. Helion's skill text also calls his ring [Ring of Kim Sol] in two places and the Ultimate calls it the Ring of the Golden Sun: same object, a translation still settling down.

My ideal solution is simple. Keep the Ultimate transformation, then let players unlock either form as an optional permanent appearance. The battle transformation stays dramatic, the original partner stays emotionally important, and anyone who loves Fennelun or Soleon gets to walk around as one. Everybody wins.

And for anyone worried about the long game: our DPS tier list places Helion and Fennelun in A tier, with the note that both are probably S once launch balancing is confirmed. Helion carried my entire third beta, Alphas included, on barely any investment. Whichever you pick is a real damage dealer, not a training wheel you throw away at level 30.

Can you get both starters?

During the betas you selected either Lunara or Helion, starter trading was restricted, and there was no verified method to catch the partner your rival walked away with. The developers have said they left the possibility of another method open, but no confirmed launch system currently guarantees you can own both. Until Pawprint says otherwise, choose as if the decision is permanent.

Our index says nothing better: neither Lunara nor Helion lists a single habitat, so there is no wild spawn, no region and no capture route anywhere in the data. Every other creature on this site tells you where to find it. These two do not, because the opening cutscene is the only place they come from so far.

For what it is worth, I do think Aniimo should eventually offer both through gameplay: let the opening choice stay meaningful, then add a late story quest where the rival's starter comes to trust you, or hands over a special egg. That keeps the emotional weight of the beginning without punishing collectors for choosing the creature they loved first.

How to choose in thirty seconds

If you are still stuck at the selection screen with the countdown running, answer these in order and stop as soon as one lands:

1. Have you played an action game with dodge timing before? No, take Lunara. Range is naturally forgiving.
2. Do you want fights to end in one explosion? Yes, take Helion. Nothing about Lunara is built for that.
3. Are you planning a Light-heavy squad? Fox Mark's resistance shred helps every Light attacker you bring, so Lunara edges it. The team templates are the fast way to see who else fits.
4. Did you already fall in love with one of them? Take that one. The stats are tied, so the bond is the only tiebreak the game did not balance for you.

Lunara wins on safety and versatility. Helion wins on aggression and spectacle. Their stats are tied, their potential is real, and the correct choice is the combat style and the partner you actually want to spend hundreds of hours beside. Just remember that unless Pawprint confirms another method before launch, you may only get one.

If you want the rest of the day-one plan, my 10 things to do first covers the route your starter will be walking, and my verdict on the free Prismana covers the other choice everybody has to make at launch. Then check the tier list when you are ready to build around whichever one you took.

So, Pathfinders: team moon fox or team sun lion? Let me know which starter you are choosing, and I will see you in Idyll.