This is normal. Before I proceed, something good to know:
Character = these are Annie, Dahlia, Beowulf, Ms Fortune, Painwheel, Big Band, Peacock etc...
Variant = these are the different palette versions of a character. For example Ms Fortune has the following variants: Hellcat, Just Kitten, Purrfect Dark, Rogue Agent, etc...
You have 4 tiers of variants:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Diamond
You can evolve a variant of a lower tier to a higher tier when they reach their level cap.
Bronze has a max lv of 30 and can evolve to Silver.
Silver has a max lv of 40 and can evolve to Gold.
Gold has a max lv of 50 and can evolve to Diamond
Diamond has a max lv of 60
When a variant is ready to evolve, a new button "EVOLVE" will appear. In order to evolve them you'll need the following.
Bronze to Silver = 3 bronze variants of the same character
Silver to Gold = 4 silver variants of the same character
Gold to Diamond = 5 gold characters of the same variant and 3 essences (don't worry about essences for now)
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If you sacrifice a variant to the same variant, let's say you sacrifice Hellcat for another Hellcat, you'll unlock that character's PRESTIGE ability.
Prestige has different criteria for charging up. But activation is generally done by clicking on your character's portrait when it starts glowing blue during gameplay.
It's generally advised to do this type of sacrifice when you evolve the character, so you don't waste materials.
I know I just dumped a lot of info on you, but I hope it helps