Champion growth, promotion, and lineup basics

Actualizado el 2 nov 2026

Treat level, promotion, and skills as separate spends. Match energy types, check space vs ground kits, and slow down before you dump rare shards.

Applies to: Oct 2026 — confirm on the in-game screen
Sources: Official Foundation beginner tips, fleet power guide
Checked: 30 Oct 2026
Confidence: Community rewrite of official guides — not a Nyx measurement

Unofficial community guide. Current champion screens beat this page after a patch. Operating advice is editor suggestion.

Level, promotion, and skills are different spends

When you strengthen a champion, treat level-ups, promotion / star steps, and skill upgrades as separate investments. Material names, shard counts, and unlock gates come from the live upgrade screen. Official beginner material stresses champion growth and ability unlocks, but it does not publish every shard table. [S1]

Beginner priority (operating advice)

Name the three space fighters you actually use every day.
Check owned shards and whether you have a steady way to earn more.
If ground content stalls, do not paste the space lineup blindly — read ground skills.
Before you spend rare shared materials, read who can use them and whether the spend can be undone.
A new legend is not an automatic full replace. Test the same enemy first.

Space kit vs ground kit

Official guidance: champions have space and ground abilities, and the better pick depends on the content. A strong space rating is not a free pass on every ground mission. [S1]

Energy-type synergy

Matching champions to the ship type applies these official bonuses: [S2]

2 matching: +10% ATK / DEF / INT
3 matching: +20% ATK / DEF / INT

ATK is attack, DEF is defence, INT scales with the champion’s role. Read the skill text and the formation bonus — displayed power alone is not enough. [S2]

Skill order

Official fleet guidance describes skills firing left to right in formation. You can try support / debuff first, main damage second. Do not stretch that into “every skill in every mode always fires on the same beat.” Check the fight and the skill cards. [S2]

Before you spend promotion materials

Could these shards unlock a champion you do not own yet?
Is this character even allowed to use shared shards?
Does this promotion open a skill or a real effect, or just a star icon?
After the promo, do you still have level / skill mats left?
Will the same spend score points or rewards in the next event?

This is a buy / invest checklist. It is not a claim that every champion promotes with shared shards.

Ivan, Lily, Alia purchase paths stay unverified here

Limited banners, passes, and exchange shops shift with server age and rotation. This intro does not publish fixed prices, guaranteed shard counts, or shop stock for those three. Older chat notes about buy paths stay out of the published guide until someone rechecks the live store screens.

Spends beginners should skip

Big cash dumps just to unlock a hard-to-get character
Leveling every skill on every champion at once
Building lineups by rarity alone, ignoring space vs ground
Buying packs of shared shards without reading who can use them

That list is loss-control advice, not a tier list.

Series

← First week growth · Fleet power checks →

Also: Combat basics.

Sources

[S1] Official beginner tips — https://www.foundation.game/en/news/official-guide-10-tips-you-must-know
[S2] Official fleet power guide — https://www.foundation.game/en/news/official-guide-mastering-fleet-power