Character Rank is indicated by the border of the Roster portrait. Characters can be promoted to a higher rank by using Character Cards, or Shards.

Collect Character Cards to rank up your characters without using Shards. If the Star Rating of your Character Card is higher than your character's current Star Rating, that character will earn the extra Stars. If the character has a higher Star Rating than the card found, the character keeps the current Star Rating. When using Character Cards, any DNA progress is kept and counts towards the next Star Rating. If a Character Card of the same rank or lower is found, the card is transformed into Character DNA.

Collect Shards to rank up your characters without using Character Cards. Silver Shards rank up characters from Bronze to Silver, Gold Shards rank up characters from Silver to Gold, and Platinum Shards rank up characters from Gold to Platinum. Shards can be used only on characters that have reached their maximum star rating, and Platinum characters can only be achieved by using Shards.