The Xeno Arena update (version 6.3, April 8, 2026) added a full turn-based creature battle system to No Man’s Sky. To get started, adopt at least one creature companion, then find any Holo-Arena table and interact with it to queue your first fight. That’s all it takes. Everything else (affinities, evolution, breeding, ranked leagues) builds from there.
Here’s how it actually works.
Step 1: Adopt some creatures
You can’t enter a battle without companions registered to your roster. To adopt a creature:
- Find fauna on any planet
- Feed it Creature Pellets to tame it (unlocked automatically after completing the Awakenings questline)
- Register it as a companion once tamed
Robotic fauna are the exception. They need an Ion Battery instead of Creature Pellets. Keep a few in your inventory if you want to recruit mechanical types.
Battles use teams of three, so you want at least three companions before queuing up. A wider roster lets you swap in the right creature for each matchup, which matters a lot once you understand the affinity system.
Use Creature Survey Mode first
Before adopting blindly, switch your Analysis Visor to Creature Survey Mode (added in 6.3). It overlays each creature’s potential battle traits and species data in the field, so you can see what you’re getting before committing a slot. Useful when you’re hunting for specific affinities.
Companion slots
The Xeno Arena update raised the maximum companion limit from 18 to 30. You start with two slots unlocked. The third slot costs 500 Nanites, and each one after that costs more. Unlock them early. Affinity coverage requires variety, and variety requires slots.
Step 2: Find Iteration: Oceanus at the Space Anomaly
Before jumping into random fights, go to the Space Anomaly and find Iteration: Oceanus. This NPC runs a short tutorial battle that walks you through the core mechanics. More to the point: defeating Oceanus gives you your first Retroviral Pellet, which you need to evolve your creatures. Don’t skip this.
After the tutorial, Oceanus points you to two more battles. Completing all three fully unlocks the battle system and opens up player-vs-player fights.
Step 3: Learn the affinity system
This is the single most important thing to understand. Every creature has an affinity, an elemental type determined by the biome where it evolved. Using the right affinity against the right opponent deals bonus damage. Using the wrong one puts you at a serious disadvantage.
There are eight affinities in total. From the official patch notes: “Fire-based companions may excel against frozen creatures, but find themselves vulnerable to radioactive attacks.” Here’s the full matchup chart, based on community testing:
| Affinity | Strong Against | Weak Against |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Frost | Radioactive |
| Frost | Desert | Fire |
| Radioactive | Fire | Toxic |
| Toxic | Tropical | Mechanical |
| Tropical | Anomalous | Toxic |
| Anomalous | Mechanical | Desert |
| Mechanical | Toxic | Anomalous |
| Desert | Radioactive | Frost |
The full picture of offensive and defensive interactions is still being mapped. These matchups are confirmed across multiple sources, but not every edge case is documented yet.
Two separate four-way cycles run through the system. One: Fire > Frost > Desert > Radioactive > Fire. The other: Toxic > Tropical > Anomalous > Mechanical > Toxic. Cross-chain matchups are less predictable, so early on, stick to the confirmed counters.
Before each fight, inspect the opposing team’s affinities. Swapping one creature out for a better-matched one is often the difference between a clean win and a slow grind.
Step 4: Find a Holo-Arena and fight
Holo-Arena tables are where all battles happen. They’re scattered across the galaxy.
| Location | Opponent | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Space Anomaly | Other players (PvP) | Varies |
| Space stations | Seasoned system champions | Harder, better rewards |
| Planetary outposts | Local alien NPCs | Standard |
| Planetary archive buildings | Local alien NPCs | Standard |
| Some settlement buildings | Local alien NPCs | Standard |
For your first fights, stick to planetary outposts. Space station champions hit harder and should be tackled once you have a few evolutions done.
How battles work
Battles are turn-based. Your team of three faces an opponent’s team of three. Knock out all three of their creatures to win. Each creature acts in turn order based on its Agility stat. Faster creatures go first, which matters more than most people expect.
Moves fall into several types: direct attacks, heals, stuns, shields, status effects, and morphs that can temporarily change an opponent’s affinity mid-fight. Creatures can also dodge attacks, score critical hits, and occasionally perform bonus moves. Cooldown management and matchup awareness matter more than raw damage output.
Step 5: Evolve your creatures
Winning battles earns your companions experience. As XP builds, they unlock genetic mutations through the Morphogenetics system. These mutations upgrade three core stats:
- Agility: controls turn order. Higher agility means acting before opponents, which is often worth more than raw damage.
- Health: survivability in battle.
- Combat Effectiveness: scales how hard your moves hit.
For faster progression, use Retroviral Pellets. These consumables trigger a direct evolution, letting you apply gene mutations immediately rather than grinding battles for slow incremental XP. You earn them by winning battles once the system is fully unlocked.
One important detail: summon your creature first before feeding it a Retroviral Pellet. If you feed the pellet without summoning, you risk wasting it on the wrong creature. You get one from Oceanus at the start, and you won’t see another one immediately.
Upgrades are tier-based. You must complete one tier of mutations before the next unlocks. Plan your evolution path before spending pellets.
Creature rating and long-term potential
Creatures come in S, A, B, and C class ratings. This sets their stat ceiling. An S-class creature will ultimately outperform a C-class one at max evolution, even if the C-class starts with better numbers in some stats. Based on early player testing, you can’t fully compensate for a weak base rating through upgrades alone.
That said, for early-game content, rating matters less than affinity coverage. A B-class creature with the right elemental matchup will beat an S-class creature on the wrong type every time.
Size also factors in. Larger creatures tend to be tankier but slower and easier to target. Smaller creatures dodge more often and act faster. This naturally pushes toward team roles: big creatures up front absorbing hits, smaller ones in the back dealing damage.
Arena League: ranks and rewards
The Arena League is the progression faction for Xeno Arena, tracked in your Catalogue & Guide. It has five tiers of ranked medals. As you climb, you unlock:
- Nanites, earned from every battle (useful for companion slot unlocks and general progression)
- Retroviral Pellets, the main upgrade resource
- NPC invitations, which open access to tougher alien opponents with better rewards
- Titles for exceptional Arena League accomplishments
- Unique companions from Oceanus: Corrupted Quadruped, Geno-Prawn, Wandering Shrimp Tank, Boundary Horror, and Aeron Crab
Pin any Arena League medal from your Catalogue to activate step-by-step Mission Log guidance for reaching that tier.
Daily challenges
Oceanus posts a daily challenge each day, the same battle for every player in the game. It’s deliberately hard, designed to get people comparing strategies. Check it daily. It’s a consistent Nanite source once you can beat it.
Breeding with the Egg Sequencer
The Egg Sequencer aboard the Space Anomaly lets you breed and modify creature offspring. A creature’s personality influences how it behaves in battle, while physical traits like size affect durability and target priority. The Egg Sequencer can now also access eggs stored in your Freighter inventory.
Breeding is where deeper long-term optimization lives. For beginners, focus on taming creatures with good affinity coverage and solid base ratings before worrying about offspring traits.
Before your first fight
Check the opposing team’s affinities before locking in your lineup. It takes five seconds and wins fights you’d otherwise lose.
Don’t use your first Retroviral Pellet immediately after beating Oceanus. You only get one to start, so decide which creature you’re investing in before spending it.
The Space Anomaly is the best place to practice. It’s the most accessible hub, and Oceanus runs daily challenges from there.
Agility tends to decide close fights. When two teams are evenly matched, the faster one usually wins by controlling the pace before damage even becomes the deciding factor.
Unlock companion slots early. Affinity coverage is the whole game, and you can’t build coverage with two slots.