Evolution Stage

Evolution Stage (進化段階 Shinka dankai; Dub: Level)—also referred to by various other names—is a classification that, broadly speaking, denotes how powerful a Digimon is. When a Digimon undergoes evolution, it typically becomes a Digimon of a higher Evolution Stage than its previous form, so Evolution Stages are also roughly analogous to phases in the Digimon life cycle.

=Overview= Each new Evolution Stage requires more and more data than the last in order to be evolved into, so evolution gets progressively more difficult as Evolution Stage increases. As a result of this, there are fewer and fewer Digimon of each subsequent Evolution Stage, and the majority of Digimon in the wild do not evolve any further than the Adult level.

Although Evolution Stages generally represent a linear progression in power, where Digimon of a given level are uniformly more powerful than those of the previous level, there are rare exceptions. For example, Lucemon: Falldown Mode is classified as Perfect, but it is significantly more powerful than many Ultimate Digimon, including the other Great Demon Lords (all of whom are Ultimate).

There are some cases where, for whatever reason, there exist variations of the same species of Digimon which have different Evolution Stages from each other despite, in some cases, being otherwise indistinguishable. For example, both Adult and Perfect Whamon exist, and although they are identical in appearance and have been verified as both being of the same species, the Perfect Whamon has nonetheless evolved to a higher Evolution Stage than its Adult brethren, whom it surpasses in both offensive ability and vitality.

Not all Digimon species have an identified Evolution Stage, and some are classified as having no Evolution Stage at all.

Evolution Stage is also the basis on which methods of attaining evolution by combining multiple Digimon together are typically, but not universally, distinguished from each other. As a general rule, if the Digimon that results from the combination of two or more Digimon is of a higher Evolution Stage than all of the constituent Digimon, it is considered Jogress Evolution. Otherwise, it is considered fusion.

Class
In some media, Digimon which do not belong to a natural Evolution Stage are sometimes described instead in terms of class (級 Kyū/クラス Kurasu). This classification rates their power on the scale of the power levels of the traditional Evolution Stages, for the sake of comparison with or equivalency to Digimon with natural Evolution Stages.

Use cases of class include:
 * Digital Monster Card Game
 * The D-Reaper's agents are denoted as having no Evolution Stage ("—"), but are rated as a class that is specified in brackets following the "—".
 * Hybrid Digimon (excluding Flamon and Strabimon) are always marked as belonging to the Hybrid level in the conventional Evolution Stage field of the card, but some Hybrid Digimon cards also denote a class. Human Form Hybrid Digimon are rated as "Level IV" (Adult) Class, Beast Form Hybrid Digimon are rated as Perfect Class, and Fusion Form and Transcendent Form Hybrid Digimon are rated as Ultimate Class.
 * Digimon originating from Digimon Xros Wars media (who, at the time, did not have canonical Evolution Stages) who appear in the various special-edition collectors' sets in the 2010s are denoted as having no Evolution Stage, but are rated as a class that is specified in the same style as the D-Reaper's agents. The classes they are given here do not always match the Evolution Stages that the Digimon Reference Book later assigned to them in a 2020 update.
 * Digimon Reference Book: Some profiles describe Digimon power levels in terms of class ratings, including:
 * Flamon: "However, it is a being that has inherited a Spirit of the legendary Ten Warriors who possess ultimate strength, so although it has lost power, ordinary Adult-class Digimon aren't a match for it."
 * Gold V-dramon: "Its existence is precious, and it possesses extraordinary offensive ability among Armors, and exhibits its Ultimate-class power if it gets in a pinch."
 * Pawn Chessmon (Black) and Pawn Chessmon (White): "Its power is weak, but it is promoted when it strives for prominence, and it is an ordinary pawn that conceals the mystery that it is said to possess Ultimate-class power."
 * Strabimon: "As with Flamon, although its power was decreased, it seems that Adult-class Digimon aren't a match for it."
 * Xuanwumon: "Normally there is one Digicore per body, and it is not exposed outside of the body except with the Undead types or the greatest of the Ultimate class."

Nomenclature
Evolution Stages are usually referred to by a specific name. They can also be referred to by a number, following a convention established by various trading card games (for example, the Child level is "Level III").

Other media sometimes call the concept of Evolution Stages by other terms, including:


 * Level (レベル Reberu; Dub: Level) The standard term, used in the vast majority of Digimon media, including Digimon Web and the Digimon Reference Book.
 * Generation (世代 Sedai; Dub: Generation) Commonly used in role-playing video games like the Digimon World and Digimon Story series, to avoid confusion with which also features in those games.
 * Form (形態 Keitai; Dub: Form) Used in the Digimon Card Game, as the term for the particular Characteristic field in which a Digimon's Evolution Stage is listed by name (as opposed to the numerical Level system in the game's mechanics). Also occasionally used for other keywords, such as "D-Reaper."

=List of Evolution Stages=

Natural Evolution Stages
The natural life cycle of a Digimon, without use of any artificial means of evolution, is comprised of six Evolution Stages.

Apocryphal Evolution Stages
This Evolution Stage only appears in some media, and is not universally considered to be a canonical Evolution Stage.

Artificial Evolution Stages
There are two additional Evolution Stages that designate species of Digimon who evolved using certain external means, such as specific items. These Evolution Stages are outside the standard Digimon Evolution Stage hierarchy, and the strength of Digimon belonging to these Evolution Stages can vary considerably. For convenience, many adaptations just treat Digimon of these Evolution Stages as belonging to natural Evolution Stages.

Appmon Grades
Instead of traditional Evolution Stages, Appmon use an analogous concept called grades (グレード Gurēdo), which otherwise serves almost the exact same function. The only difference is that Appmon do not have traditional Digimon evolution and instead can only become higher-grade Appmon by undergoing AppGattai to fuse with another Appmon of the same grade.

=Additional Information=