Etheria Restart Duplicate System: How Dupes, Imprints, and Breakthroughs Actually Work​

Etheria Restart’s duplicate system makes extra copies of a unit meaningfully stronger, but does not lock core abilities behind dupes, so one copy is still fully functional for most PvE. Long‑term concerns mainly come from how those stat boosts carry into RTA/PvP rather than from PvE gates.

How dupes, Prowess, and imprints work

Each extra copy of an Animus adds a “Prowess” tier that grants flat stat bonuses like attack, defence, HP, crit rate, and damage dealt/taken, similar to imprint or Eidolon systems in other gachas. A dedicated breakdown on HellHades uses Tiamat as an example and lists her Prowess bonuses as +5% ATK/DEF/HP for the first dupe, +10% healing received for the second, another +5% ATK/DEF/HP for the third, a crit‑rate boost at the fourth, and finally +10% damage dealt and –10% damage taken at the last tier (HellHades Duplicate System guide). A community comparison post on r/Etheria_Official notes that fully maxed Prowess on top units can amount to around 22% extra damage dealt and 16% damage reduction, making Etheria’s dupes significantly stronger per copy than imprint systems in games like CounterSide or Epic Seven (Reddit dupe comparison).

Several creators stress that these upgrades do not unlock new skills or rework kits; one copy of a character lets you do everything mechanically, and Prowess only adds stats, not new mechanics. HellHades’ article emphasises this point explicitly, arguing that “one copy is all you need to do what you want to do” in PvE, even though full Prowess is a “hefty chunk of power” in competitive modes (HellHades Duplicate System guide).

Breakthroughs and how many dupes matter

Etheria effectively has five Prowess tiers per Animus, so you need one base copy plus up to five dupes to max them out. A video titled “You’re sleeping on Prowess (Duplicates)” on YouTube explains that, unlike some games that require six or more extra copies, Etheria caps at five Prowess levels, with each one giving a discrete boost in stats such as ATK%, HP%, healing received, crit rate, and damage multipliers (Prowess explanation video). HellHades’ dupe system article recommends treating the first and last Prowess tiers as the most impactful, because they deliver the biggest combined ATK/DEF/HP and damage dealt/taken bonuses, while the middle tiers are nice but not critical for non‑whales (HellHades Duplicate System guide).

Community testing and comparisons suggest that max‑Prowess copies are particularly noticeable on bruisers and frontliners like Tiamat, where the extra survivability and damage make them much harder to remove in RTA. One RTA‑focused post on r/Etheria_Official and a companion video titled “Dupes Matter in RTA?! F2P vs P2W Stats!” both confirm that Prowess bonuses are active in PvP, which is why whales with multiple dupes can create a visible stats gap there even when gear is similar (Reddit RTA dupe thread, RTA dupe impact video).

Summon Shop, Anima Crystals, and buying dupes

On top of summoning, Etheria lets you convert dupes into a shop currency and slowly buy additional copies without pulling. HellHades’ summoning guide explains that every duplicate pulled awards Anima Crystals, 10 for an R, 50 for an SR, and 100 for an SSR, which you can spend in the monthly Summon Shop on items like Perfect Lattices, Shadow Prints, and other high‑value progression pieces (HellHades Summoning guide). A progression section in a beginner’s video on YouTube, “The BEST Etheria Restart Beginners Guide,” also shows that the Animus Shop sells SR and SSR dupe copies for Anima Crystal Points, describing this as a way to “obtain additional dupes… without pulling for them directly” (Beginner guide video, segment on Animus shop).

A Reddit Q&A thread on r/Etheria_Restart clarifies that Anima Crystal Points are mainly earned from events like the “candy” launch event, from the Summit Arena shop, and through account‑level milestones such as hitting level 30, which grants a large one‑time chunk of 5,000 points (Anima Crystal Q&A). A shop‑focused YouTube guide, “What to Buy from the Exchange Shop?”, then recommends prioritising SSR dupes and Perfect Lattices with this currency if you plan to push PvP, since those purchases effectively convert your time into Prowess rather than RNG pulls (Exchange Shop video).

Are dupes required, and what should F2P do?

The short answer from most long‑form guides is that dupes are not required to play and clear PvE, but they are an advantage in PvP and a long‑term luxury goal. HellHades’ “Ultimate Beginner Guide Part 5” explicitly frames dupes as “helpful but not required,” advising new and F2P players to focus on getting one copy of high‑tier units and then building gear and shells rather than chasing Prowess early (Ultimate Beginner Guide Part 5). A three‑month review on r/QueensofGacha and several opinion posts on r/Etheria_Restart echo this sentiment: the real walls for F2P are difficulty spikes, gear, and stamina caps, not owning five copies of the same SSR (Three‑month review, F2P perspective thread).

From a practical standpoint, most advice threads and spending guides recommend that F2P and low‑spend players:

• Treat the first dupe or two on key units as incidental bonuses rather than goals; do not pull solely for Prowess tiers early in your account’s life. The dupe system article on HellHades and a commentary video titled “About the Etheria Dupes Situation” both argue that you should “gear first, Prowess later” unless you are already at endgame power (HellHades Duplicate System guide, Dupe situation video).
• Use Anima Crystals and Anima Crystal Points from the Summon Shop and Animus Shop to buy targeted dupes for one or two favourite PvP units instead of trying to max Prowess on everyone, a priority echoed in shop guides like “Buy This First – Best Shop Items in Etheria Restart” (Best shop items video).
• Focus on shells, gear sub‑stats, and team building first, since several tier‑list reviews and basic strategy guides point out that gear and synergy can easily outweigh a couple of Prowess tiers, especially in PvE (Neon Vanguard beginner guide, Escapist tier list and reroll guide).

Handled this way, treating Prowess as a long‑term optimisation layer, using shops to target the occasional dupe, and prioritising core builds over chasing five copies, Etheria Restart’s duplicate system becomes a manageable power bonus instead of a hard requirement for enjoying the game.