Anime Galaxies launched with four modes and has been adding more every patch. This page is the map: what each mode is for, what it pays, and whether it is worth your time right now.
Story mode
The main progression track
Story is split into acts across anime worlds (the community talks about Act 1 of Desert Kingdom as the standard Nightmare farm spot, alongside Alabasta and Hidden Leaf Village). Each act has a Nightmare variant unlocked after the normal clear.
What it pays
Story is the steadiest gem source in the game, and the Nightmare version pays substantially more on first clear — which is why “replay Act 1 Nightmare” is the standard answer to “how do I farm gems fast?”.
DNA payout
2-5 per normal win, 10-20 per Nightmare win.
Nightmare mode
It is a difficulty, not a separate mode
Nightmare is a toggle on story acts. The waves are denser, the boss hits harder, and the rewards are roughly tripled.
Why it matters for progression
Nightmare first clears are the biggest single source of Stat Tokens, the currency you need for the SSS grind. If you only do one thing beyond challenges, do Nightmare clears.
What you need to clear it
A farm unit, a control unit and one unit that can survive a boss burst. Pure glass-cannon teams clear normal story and stall immediately in Nightmare.
Challenges
15-minute rotation, plus daily and weekly
Challenges rotate every 15 minutes, and since October 25 there are also Daily and Weekly challenge tracks. A win locks that challenge for 30 minutes, a cap the developer added on October 16 and has said may change.
What it pays
15-25 DNA per win plus gems. It is the best repeatable DNA-per-minute in the game, which makes it the default filler between bigger runs.
Endless
Leaderboard survival
Endless runs until your team dies and feeds a global leaderboard. It is also the only source of Muzan via the Invitation drop — see the Endless and Muzan guide.
Raids
Boss fights with the best payout
25-40 DNA per clear and the Sukuna unit. Full breakdown in the raids guide.
Portals
The renewable Secret route
Portals drop from Infinity and lead to Frieza. Full breakdown in the portals guide.
PvP (BETA)
What shipped
A BETA PvP mode arrived with the October 24 patch. The developer’s own words were “pretty cool if you ask me”, which is the entire official description so far — no ranked ladder, no published ruleset, and no reward table.
Should you play it
Treat it as a curiosity for now. Until the developer publishes rules or rewards, PvP is not a progression route, and building a team around it risks wasting the resources you need for raids and portals.
The event mode
MUI Goku event
The October 24 patch added a limited event: Event Capsules bought with Rainbow Stars, with Goku at 0.5% per capsule. The event UI sits on the right side of the screen, and the Gowko NPC near summoning is the other entrance. See the Goku page for the full route.
What to play, in order
Fresh account
Story normal → Story Nightmare → Challenges on rotation.
Mid game
Challenges and Nightmare for tokens, Endless for the Invitation, one raid attempt to learn the pattern.
Established account
Raids for DNA, Portals for Frieza, Endless for the leaderboard and Muzan if you still need him.