Phase Three: Make Your Variant Yours
Phase 3 is almost here
Starting February 27th, every owner of a Variance Collection NFT (we call them Variants) can customize their Variant’s appearance, attach Relics, and lock in Legend status.
Phase 3 runs until March 27th, and once it wraps, the collection is finalized. No more rerolls, no more modifications.
As teased in our first post, this entry is entirely dedicated to Phase 3. Here’s everything you need to know.
TL;DR
Phase 3 runs February 27th through March 27th
Every Variant gets one free appearance reroll to change colors (skin, eyes, hair, baselayer, outerwear) and facial expression
Relic Attachments grant the Legend title (+1,000 Aura), a random relic trait (+500 to 1,500 Aura), and a 2x staking bonus
Relics were earned by sacrificing Variants during Phase 2 (one Relic per sacrifice). Now you can attach them to your remaining Variants.
Unused Relics automatically convert into 2,500 Aura each when the collection finalizes
Kodo generates your new Variant image in the background (up to 15 minutes)
If you plan to do both, use the free reroll first. Legends can’t use free rerolls.
The collection finalizes on March 27th. No more changes after that.
Two Ways to Customize
Phase 3 gives every owner two customization options, and they work independently of each other. You can do one, both, or neither.
Option 1: Free Appearance Reroll
Every Variant gets one free reroll to change its appearance. No cost, no catch. You pick the colors and expression you want, Kodo AI generates a new image, and you decide whether to keep it.
Since the reroll only changes colors and expression, the rest of your Variant’s look (hair style, accessories, background, etc.) stays the same. So if you’re picking which Variant to reroll, start with one that already has the look you want and use the reroll to dial in the colors.
You can change colors for Skin, Eyes, Hair, Baselayer, and Outerwear, plus your Facial Expression. The selector makes it straightforward, and changed options highlight in green so you can see what’s different from the original.
One important note: Your free reroll is consumed the moment you click that button. Whether you accept the result or discard it, the free attempt is used up. If generation fails due to technical issues, you can retry without losing anything. So take your time picking your options before you commit.
Option 2: Relic Attachment
If you sacrificed Variants during Phase 2, you earned Relics alongside your Aura. Now those Relics have a purpose.
Attaching a Relic to a Variant does three things:
Grants the Legend title with a fixed +1,000 Aura boost
Adds a randomly generated relic trait worth +500 to 1,500 Aura
Unlocks a 2x staking bonus for when staking goes live on March 31st
That last point is the big one. Normal Variants will stake at 50% of their Variant Aura. Legends stake at 100%. If you’re planning to stake, attaching Relics to your keepers effectively doubles your staking rate.
Like the free reroll, the Relic is consumed when generation starts, not when you accept or discard the result. Each Variant can only receive one Relic. There is a 10,000 Aura cap. If you don’t use your Relics during Phase 3, they’ll automatically convert into 2,500 Aura each when the collection finalizes.
Important: Once a Variant becomes a Legend, it can no longer use its free appearance reroll. If you want to do both, always use the free reroll first.
How It Works
You’ll need your wallet linked to your account on the profile page, but once that’s done, the process itself requires no wallet interactions, no transactions, and nothing to sign. Here’s the flow:
Step 1: Find an eligible Variant in your collection. Look for the green “FREE” badge (for free rerolls) or the gold “RELICS” badge (for Relic attachments). A sidebar card also shows your total available rerolls and Relics at a glance.
Step 2: Click a Variant to open the details modal, then hit “Reroll.” You’ll see both options: Personalize (Free) and Attach Relic. If you plan to do both, use the free reroll first. Legends can’t use free rerolls, so attaching a Relic first locks you out of that option.
Step 3: Pick your colors and expression (for appearance) or confirm the attachment (for Relics), then kick off generation.
Step 4: Wait for Kodo to generate your new Variant. This can take up to 15 minutes, but you can close the window and come back later. Generation runs in the background. When it’s done, the button changes to “View Result.”
Step 5: Preview the result in a side-by-side comparison. Your original Variant on the left, the new version on the right, with all changes listed below. Then accept or discard.
That’s it. If something goes wrong during generation, you get a retry and nothing is consumed.
What This Means for You
Aura
Free appearance rerolls don’t affect Aura at all. They’re purely cosmetic. Change your Variant’s look without worrying about your numbers.
Relic attachments add significant Aura. Between the Legend title (+1,000) and the random relic trait (+500 to 1,500), each Relic attachment adds 1,500 to 2,500 Aura to your Variant. Each Variant has a strict 10,000 Aura cap, so plan your attachments accordingly.
If you sacrificed Variants during Phase 2 to earn those Relics, you already picked up 2,000 to 10,000 Aura per sacrifice on top of the Relic itself. Sacrificed Variants also effectively count as permanently staked at the 2x Legend rate (minus the title and relic trait bonuses). So that Aura is already working for you at full rate.
The most important threshold right now is 10,000+ Aura for Beta access. If you’re not holding a Genesis Portal, hitting 10k Aura is your way into the Closed Beta at the end of March.
We’ll be announcing full details for Pre-Season and Season 1 before staking goes live on March 31st. The current tier structure is being updated, so rather than listing numbers that are going to change, we’d rather give you the final picture all at once. Expect a dedicated breakdown alongside the staking launch.
What we can say now:
Aura works for you whether you play the game or not. Staking rewards and tier benefits exist at the collection level, and Aura will tie into the broader economy.
If you also play, your Aura tier unlocks additional cosmetic rewards in-game: exclusive skins, effects, titles, and profile customization. Nothing that touches gameplay balance.
Strategy
If you want both, use your free reroll first. Once a Variant becomes a Legend through Relic attachment, it can no longer use its free reroll. So always personalize before attaching.
Attach Relics to your keepers. Legend title, Aura boost, and the 2x staking bonus. If you’re holding long-term, this is where it all adds up.
Watch your Aura total. If you’re close to the 10,000 Aura threshold for Beta access, a few Relic attachments might be what gets you there.
The Lore
If you’ve been paying attention to the lore woven into the collection, Phase 3 fits right into the arc
From minting (”a Variant takes form, drawn from the memory and will of the vanished Ancients”) to sacrificing (”In the moment of unraveling, a Variant becomes Aura, a luminous relic of all it once was.”) to now: transcendence and personalization:
“Guided by forgotten rituals, Aura reshapes the Variant, unlocking depths unseen before.”
The collection’s journey follows a narrative that mirrors Variance themes of death, rebirth, and transcendence.
What's Next
Phase 3 runs from February 27th to March 27th. After that, the collection is finalized. No more rerolls, no more Relic attachments, no more changes. What you have is what you have.
As outlined in our first post, here’s what follows:
March 31st: Staking goes live. That’s when the 2x Legend bonus kicks in.
End of March: Closed Beta launches for Genesis Portal holders and 10,000+ Aura players. Pre-Season and Season 1 details announced before then.
End of April: Open Beta + mobile client + Aura Season 1.
Early May: Economy Reveal (litepaper + game economy deep dive).
We’ll have more details on staking mechanics in a dedicated update as we get closer. Got questions about Phase 3? Drop them in Discord. If you’re a Genesis Portal holder, the private channel is where you’ll get first looks at what’s coming next.
Phase 3 is live on the 27th. Make your Variants yours.
Follow Variance on Substack. Join the conversation on Discord.








Bullish 🔥