Honkai: Nexus Anima Auto-Chess Formation Guide

Honkai: Nexus Anima is a creature-collector wrapped around a formation-based auto-chess battle: you place your Anima across three rows, lock it in, and the fight resolves on its own. You never issue a command mid-fight, so the battle is won or lost the instant you confirm your setup. The whole skill is the formation. Two rules carry most of it: put each Anima in the row that matches its Trait, and stack Anima that share an Aspect so your team gets a synergy bonus.

Note: the game is in closed beta (the Evolution Test), so systems and exact numbers can change. The row roles below are stable across public coverage; treat synergy breakpoints as illustrative until launch.

Two phases: formation, then auto-battle

Every encounter runs the same loop:

1. Formation phase. You arrange your Anima across the front, mid, and back rows. This is where every decision happens.
2. Auto-battle. The game takes over. Your Anima attack, cast skills, and pick targets on their own, based on Trait, position, and synergies.
3. Result. Win or lose, you adjust the formation and run it back.

You can field up to nine Anima in one formation, spread across the three rows, and you assemble that lineup before the fight starts. Because there is no manual input once the battle begins, a wrong formation cannot be saved by good reactions. This is a strategy game, not an action game.

The three rows and where each Trait goes

An Anima’s Trait is its combat role, and the role dictates the row. Put a unit in the wrong row and you waste it: a glass-cannon Blaster up front gets focused and dies before it fires; a Protector parked in the back leaves your carries exposed. All eleven Traits map cleanly to a row.

Row	Traits	Job in the fight
Front	Striker, Protector, Biggun, Hothead	Soak damage and brawl. High HP, strong defenses, or close-range kits.
Mid	Gladiator, Explorer	Flex layer. Sustained melee or mobile utility, shielded by the front.
Back	Blaster, Mastermind, Spook, Cherubim, Mascot	Deal ranged damage or support (heals, buffs, traps) from safety.

A few anchors from the dex for each row, using their confirmed Aspect and Trait:

• Front: Bladehound (Strength, Striker) and Hoppelon (Competition, Protector) are textbook front-liners. Dragamour (Love, Biggun) and Mesmerith (Hate, Hothead) also belong up front.
• Mid: Scorscythe and Noctumbra are Gladiators; Chimaura (Light, Explorer) is a clean Explorer pick. Cheap option: Inkifoal (Reality, Gladiator).
• Back: Lumehart (Light, Cherubim) heals the team, Waxula (Dark, Mastermind) controls the field, and Blasters like Heartcease deal area damage from range.

In the current beta, which row an Anima sits in matters far more than its left-to-right spot inside that row. Get the row right first; fine-tune ordering later.

Build a team in three steps

New players tend to field their five rarest Anima and lose to a focused 4-star lineup. Rarity is not a formation. Build in this order instead:

1. Anchor the front row. Pick one or two units that can take hits, a Protector or a sturdy Striker. They decide how long your back row survives, which decides your total damage.
2. Fill the back row with damage or healing. You need at least one ranged dealer or a healer back there. A Blaster for damage, a Cherubim like Lumehart for sustain.
3. Find an Aspect to share. Check whether three or more of your Anima carry the same Aspect. A synergy cluster usually beats a higher-rarity unit with no synergy at all.

A worked example: a mono-Light formation

Light is one of the deeper Aspects, so it can fill every row on its own while keeping the synergy live:

• Front: Apollinis (Protector), Bunmareen (Striker), Capybunner (Hothead)
• Mid: Chimaura (Explorer)
• Back: Lumehart (Cherubim, heals), Starspine (Mastermind), Glampa (Mascot)

Every unit is Light, so the Aspect bonus is always on, and the rows are correct: tanks and brawlers up front, an Explorer flexing in the middle, ranged damage and a healer protected in the back. Swap in whatever Light Anima you actually own. The shape is what matters. Drafting your own version in the formation planner is the fastest way to see the synergy and row balance at a glance.

Synergy runs on two axes, not one

Most guides only mention Aspect synergy. There are actually two independent layers, and good teams use both:

• Aspect synergy (same Aspect): the main source of team power. Fielding multiple Anima of one Aspect grants a team-wide buff, and the buff steps up as the cluster grows. Beta sources disagree on the exact breakpoints (some report the first bonus at three matching Anima, others count in twos), so treat specific numbers as unconfirmed. The principle is stable: more same-Aspect units means a bigger bonus, so commit to one Aspect rather than scattering across many.
• Trait synergy (same Trait): a second, role-based bonus. Stacking a Trait grants utility, for example several Protectors granting team-wide defense. This lets you layer a defensive or mobility bonus on top of your Aspect buff.

High-level beta lineups lean on both at once: one Aspect across the whole nine-unit board for raw power, plus enough of a single Trait to trip a defensive or utility breakpoint. The deepest Aspects in the dex (Reality, Competition, Light, and Dark each field seven or eight Anima) can fill several rows while keeping the synergy live, so they reach the strongest tiers. A mid-depth Aspect still works: Memory spans front-line units like Cinechel and Camcorgi through a back-line Blaster in Framamba. If you are committing to one Aspect, that kind of row coverage is worth chasing. Later on, Nexus Hextech augments can even fake a synergy between units that do not naturally share a Trait or Aspect, which opens up off-meta builds.

Common beginner mistakes

• Support in the front row. A Cherubim healer or a Mastermind placed up front gets targeted first and dies before contributing. Keep them in the back, every time.
• Ignoring synergy entirely. Treating Anima as nine separate units leaves a large team-wide multiplier on the table. Plan around an Aspect from the start.
• Never re-formationing. The lineup that clears an open-world pack is not the one for a dungeon boss. Spend a few seconds checking your rows before each major fight, and move one unit if the matchup calls for it.

Bottom line

Place by Trait, build front-to-back, and commit to an Aspect. A synergized team of mid-rarity Anima in the right rows beats a pile of mismatched 5-stars. Browse the Anima dex to see who fits each row, sanity-check a draft in the formation planner, and check the tier list for the early community read. New here? Start with the beginner progression guide.