Ground placement
Track hairpins (U-turns) and inner loop corners
Ground units attack inward towards the loop, so a unit placed inside a bend hits enemies on both the entry and exit paths. That doubles the effective coverage of single-target DPS.
Attack Types & Map Geometry
Anime Origins Elements & Placement
Two ideas decide how strong a unit actually is in a run: its element / attack type and where you place it on the map. Elements mostly come down to status effects (Burn, Poison, Bleed) and cover-type affinity, while placement — Ground vs Hill — controls how much of the track every single unit can hit.
Anime Origins Wiki
Independent fan guide · Updated:
Ground vs Hill Placement
Anime Origins units come in two placement classes. Getting the pairing right matters more than raw stats at higher difficulties.
Hill placement
Elevated platforms overlooking the straight stretches
Hill units (e.g. Itsoda, Vegita) gain a Range bonus from elevation and excel at covering long straightaways that Ground units can't reach. Hill spots fill the gaps Ground carries miss.
Infinite corners
Centre of loops with maximum shared coverage
As difficulty scales, damage falloff spreads — place your main DPS where its Range circle overlaps the most path. Move economy units (Bluma, Leorio) to the rear, off the combat path.
Quick rule: Ground DPS trusts hairpins, Hill units trust elevation, and economy units always sit off the path. Check the beginner guide for the full track geometry breakdown.
Who Can Hit Flying Enemies?
Flying enemies can only be damaged by Hill and Hybrid units. Ground units cannot hit them at all, so a team with no Hill or Hybrid slot stalls as soon as the first air wave spawns — this is the single most common reason new accounts get stuck early.
Hill
Hits airHill units sit on raised platforms and are the answer to flying waves. Every serious team runs at least one before the later worlds.
Vegita (Super)Mythic
Hill DPS
Aneko (Queen)Mythic
Hill DPS
Roxi (Mage)Mythic
Hill Support
ItsodaLegendary
Hill DPS
Hybrid
Hits airHybrid units can be placed on either spot type and still hit air, which makes them the most flexible slots on the field.
Melio (Assault)Mythic
Hybrid / Utility
Ground
Cannot hit airThe majority of the roster. Ground units cannot hit flying enemies at all — a full Ground team stalls the moment an air wave spawns.
26 units in the current roster are Ground-only. See the full unit list for the per-unit role breakdown.
Team-building rule: slot one Hill unit for air coverage before you invest in a second Ground carry. The game shows the spot type when you place a unit, so check it before committing Gems — and see best meta teams for air-safe lineups.
Unit Elements in the Roster
Every unit carries an element tag that shapes its attacks. The elements confirmed in the release roster are below — note that element-type advantage interactions (a rock-paper-scissors chart) have not been officially published, so unit pick is driven by role and kit rather than a hidden counter table.
CurseDarkFairyFireHollowLightningPoisonQuincySaiyanSupportTechWater
How Status Elements Work
Burn (Fire / Calamity)
Fire units like Madaro apply Calamity — a delayed detonation that repeats the damage dealt. Shinaru stacks poison, and bleed-oriented kits (Valcrad) shred single targets over time.
Status Immunity & Blocking
Some kits interact with statuses directly: Madaro can block incoming debuffs, and Slowed enemies (Goju's Infinity Expansion) lose 30% speed the longer they sit in range.
Trait Synergy
Match Decay (+40% DoT) or Rupture (+35% Crit Damage) to elemental attackers. See the trait list for details on how each boost scales with status-heavy units.
Elemental Damage Multipliers & Type Advantage
In Anime Origins, attacking into an enemy weakness grants huge multipliers, while attacking into resisted elements severely reduces damage output. Always inspect stage enemy affinities before placing your primary carries:
Super Effective (Counter)
150% Damage (+50% Bonus)
Attacking an enemy element weakness deals 1.5x damage. A lower-rarity elemental counter often out-DPSes a neutral higher-tier carry.
Neutral (Unmodified)
100% Damage (Base Output)
Neutral units (e.g. Tojei, Yato) deal flat 100% damage to all enemy types with zero resistance penalties — the safest generalist carry pick for blind runs.
Resisted (Disadvantage)
65% Damage (-35% Penalty)
Attacking an element that resists your unit reduces total damage output to only 65%. If bosses feel unexpectedly spongy, check for element resistance.
Physical vs. Magic Damage Typing
Beyond element tags (Fire, Water, Dark, etc.), every character is also classified into either Physical or Magic damage. Certain meta support units provide archetype-specific auras:
Physical Archetype
Carries like Valcrad, Tojei, and Ban focus on physical strikes, bleeding, and defense-shredding debuffs. They pair best with Bleed / Crit traits (Rupture).
Magic Archetype
Spells and AoE wave wipers like Roxy (Mage) and Madaro deal magical damage. Roxy actively buffs all nearby Magic attackers with increased skill damage.
Where to Spend the Element Edge
TierUnit / ElementWhy it dominates
SS
Madaro · Fire
Calamity detonation plus AoE slash makes him the best all-round elemental carry; deal 500% Damage in a slash that reaches triple Range.
SS
Valcrad · Dark
Crit chance stacking and +3% Damage per bleeding enemy melt bosses — pair with Rupture for a crit build.
S+
Bon · Support
Not a damage element, but the food buffs boost Damage, Cooldown and Range of every ally, amplifying every element type on the field.
A
Bluma · Tech
Income scaling from Training Data turns into a +30% income boost — the economy backbone of any long-run elemental team.
Related Guides
Best Meta Teams
6-man placement & role synergies.
Tier List
Pair elements with the best units.
All Units
Every unit's element and kit in the roster.
Traits
Boost status and DoT units with Decay and Rupture.
Ascension Guide
Fusion Cores & 5-star upgrades.
Beginner Guide
Track geometry and placement fundamentals.