Digimon Survive evolution guide – how to digivolve and use slabs

Curious about Digimon Survive evolution? Unlike their pocket monster counterparts, evolution in Digimon Survive isn’t a permanent change. Instead, digital monsters can both digivolve and de-digivolve, and their ability to do so is often dictated by the level of peril that their chosen Digidestined happens to find themselves.

However, despite the fact that digivolution is an integral part of a Digimon’s life cycle, you won’t be able to unlock the Digimon Survive evolution chart until the conclusion of part one. Digivolution is a powerful tool that can transform the cuddliest of Digimon into walking missile defence systems bristling with teeth and claws. Unsurprisingly, this drastic change of appearance comes with a massive boost to your Digimon’s stats, unlocking powerful new abilities. In Bandai Namco’s visual novel RPG game, Digimon Survive evolution is the key to survival, and this is how it works.

Digimon Survive evolution stages

There are four Digimon Survive evolution stages:

• Rookie
• Champion
• Ultimate
• Mega

The digital world of Digimon Survive is populated with 117 different types of Digimon. To keep track of every Digimon you’ve encountered thus far, check out our Digimon Survive list for a full catalogue of every obtainable digital monster.

How to trigger Digimon Survive evolution

Evolution in Digimon Survive can be triggered in one of two different ways, depending on whether the type of Digimon you’re trying to digivolve is a partner or a recruit.

Partner Digimon

Partner Digimon, such as Agumon or Kunamon, acquire the ability to digivolve over the course of the game. The route they take along their Digimon Survive evolution tree is reliant upon your dominant karma at pivotal moments. Depending on the narrative choices and dialogue options you’ve chosen, you may find your lovable, fire-breathing lizard evolving down a darker path than you were expecting.

After your partner Digimon learns how to digivolve, you’ll be able to use this ability in the heat of battle. However, given that Digimon Survive evolution is so powerful, it comes at a cost. You must spend an initial amount of SP in order to digivolve, followed by an additional SP cost per turn in order to maintain your Digimon’s greater form. Pair this with the increased SP cost required to use their more powerful abilities and you’re in danger of burning through your SP reserve too quickly.

Once you no longer have the SP to sustain your Digimon’s more advanced form, it will revert back to Rookie level. Rather than evolving your Digimon at the earliest opportunity, we recommend holding off until you have enough SP to sustain your Digimon for the duration of the battle. When the battle is over, your partner Digimon will transform back to a Rookie, as dictated by the story.

Recruit Digimon

Throughout your adventure, you can recruit Digimon to your party via Free Battles, which you can only digivolve by using slabs. This rare upgrade material can be obtained via story progression, visiting shrines, or defeating powerful foes.

There are three different types of slabs, and all will aid in Digimon Survive evolution. A Mature Enlightenment Slab evolves Rookies to Champions, a Perfect Enlightenment Slab evolves Champions to Ultimates, and an Ultimate Enlightenment Slab evolves Ultimates to Megas.

To use a slab, select Status from the pause menu, then choose the Digimon you’d like to evolve. Switch to the Evolution tab and select your preferred Digimon Survive evolution from the chart. If you have the correct slab for your recruit Digimon, then digivolution will take place.

It’s important to note that – unlike partner Digimon – the recruited Digimon won’t be able to revert back to their Rookie form once they have digivolved. If you’d like to evolve that particular Digimon down a different path of their Digimon Survive evolution chart, you must find and recruit another one during your travels.

Digimon Survive evolution paths

Digimon Survive evolution requires a lot of time and effort, and you may find that – despite your best efforts – you’ve ended up with a Mega Digimon that you don’t really like. Thankfully, the Digidestined over on r/Digimon have put together a collaborative spreadsheet detailing every Digimon Survive evolution path and their requirements.

From this spreadsheet, we have collated every possible Digimon Survive evolution for each partner Digimon available in the game.

Agumon

Gabumon

Kunemon

Syakomon

Floramon

Lopmon

Renamon

Labramon

Dracumon

Falcomon

That concludes everything we know about Digimon Survive evolution. Digimon has always dared to be a little different, and this iteration of the game series delivers a unique blend of turn-based strategy and visual novel that offers a new way to experience the thrill of digivolution. Go forth, Digidestined, and remember: Digimon are the champions.