What's the best way to exchange crypto across different tiers?

Why would bridges be the only option? There are also instant exchanges that sometimes offer better rates for swapping one coin for another. So there are options. The real risk is running into scammers who can drain your wallets and never send you anything back. Read up on which exchanges are more reliable these days for cross-chain swaps here: https://godex.io/blog/cross-chain-crypto-swaps-best-exchanges-for-multi-blockchain-trading . And do your swaps through one of those.

You're gonna need to find the right bridges for that. That's pretty much the only way to swap across different chains, if I remember right. There are plenty of them out there though, just shop around and see where you get the best rate.