This Neverness to Everness tier list ranks all 22 playable characters in Version 1.3, based on how they perform in Beyond the Rails and High Risk Commissions, the two modes where your roster actually gets tested. You will find the full rankings, a short breakdown of every character, the best NTE teams right now, and who to pick if you are starting fresh.
Neverness to Everness Tier List (September 2026)
| Tier | Characters |
| S+ | Zankou, Zero, Iroi, Hotori, Lacrimosa, Linko, Chaos, Shinku, Sakiri |
| S | Nanally, Haniel, Hathor, Jiuyuan, Daffodill |
| A | Baicang, Chiz, Fadia, Adler |
| B | Aurelia, Mint |
| C | Skia |
| D | Edgar |
S+ Tier: The Best Characters in Neverness to Everness
These are the characters that shape the current NTE meta. If you have any of them, build them first.
Zankou
Zankou arrived in Version 1.3 and shot straight to the top. She is an Incantation damage dealer who can play as a break carry, a damage over time carry, a hyper carry, or even a damage over time support next to Lacrimosa. That kind of range is rare. She also pairs brilliantly with Linko and Hotori, and she can lead a strong team made almost entirely of free characters, which makes her one of the friendliest limited pulls for players who do not spend.
Zero
The protagonist is free, and they are also one of the best characters in the game. Zero instantly refills the Esper Meter, which gives you an extra reaction roughly every 16 seconds. That alone makes them a near automatic pick for Blossom, Remora, and Charged teams. Pair Zero with Hotori and you get even more reactions in the same window. If you are new, this is great news: your very first character is already top tier.
Iroi
Iroi does a bit of everything, and she does all of it well. She heals, buffs team attack, ignores enemy defense, deals damage from off the field, and strengthens Blossom reactions. She also has the only revive effect in the game right now. Iroi does not need a specific team to shine, so she slots into almost any lineup and makes it better.
Hotori
Hotori is a support and burst damage dealer with a time stop ability. She records the skills of your teammates and replays them while time is frozen, which means her damage lands in zero seconds on the timer. In a timed endgame mode, that is huge. She is a key piece of both Mono Blossom and Mono Nova teams and makes Charged and Discord teams easier to run without extra copies. Her value holds up long term because nobody deals damage faster than a frozen clock.
Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa is one of the strongest and easiest damage dealers to play. She is a Chaos damage over time carry who fits Scorch, Discord, and Nova teams, and she makes standard characters like Baicang, Sakiri, and Adler far more useful. With Zankou next to her, she climbs even higher. Her rerun in the first half of Version 1.4 is the best chance to grab her if you missed her the first time.
Linko
Linko is the newest limited character and one of the most valuable sub DPS units in the game. She boosts follow up damage and Hexed reactions, shreds enemy resistance for any element, and deals surprisingly high personal damage for a support. Her rotation is short, so she barely eats into your main carry’s field time. She works especially well with Zankou and Nanally.
Chaos
Chaos is a Lakshana on field carry who gets a big damage boost after his Ultimate and relies on Remora reactions to hit his peak. He fits Charged teams and edges out Chiz there because he can use Hotori. The catch is that he competes with Nanally and Shinku for the same premium supports, and he needs Hathor for his biggest hit. His long attack animations also force him to tank hits, so a sustain like Fadia helps a lot.
Shinku
Shinku is a Cosmos on field damage dealer with a very high damage ceiling. She leans on Charge reactions more than anyone else and shares energy with her teammates when Charge triggers. The downside is real, though. She loses all her buffs when you swap out, she wants to stay on the field for a long time, and she takes a lot of hits as a result. She is the strictest character in the game when it comes to team building.
Sakiri
Sakiri is the best standard character in this Neverness to Everness tier list. She pulls enemies together, gives the whole team an attack buff, and can trigger Hexed for Anima and Incantation teams. Her real strength is a passive that boosts damage over time effects by 25 to 100 percent, scaling with how many damage over time effects are on the enemy. With Lacrimosa, she becomes a powerhouse. One extra copy doubles her buff and makes her great outside Scorch teams too.
S Tier Characters
These characters are excellent picks. Each one has a small limitation that keeps them just below the very top.
Nanally
Nanally is an Anima main DPS and one of the most flexible limited carries in the game. Most of her damage comes from follow up attacks, so Linko gives her a big boost, and she makes great use of the Hotori and Zero duo. She can also act as an Anima support for Shinku. Some community rankings place her in the very top tier, so treat her as a high S.
Haniel
Haniel is a free A Class Psyche support, and she punches way above her rarity. She gives strong attack buffs with a rotation that takes about a second, and she has a niche in Nova teams where she can stack even more buffs. Because she is A Class, collecting her extra copies is easy. With two extra copies her buffs can stay up nearly all the time.
Hathor
Hathor is the best Lakshana support for Chiz, Chaos, and Shinku teams. She extends Remora from 5 seconds to 12 seconds and gives the whole team 10 percent Crit Rate against enemies affected by Remora. Even if she just sits in the background, that passive earns her a spot. As a main damage dealer she is much weaker, so build her as a support.
Jiuyuan
Jiuyuan is an Anima sub DPS who fits a huge number of teams. She groups enemies for area stages, needs very little field time, doubles Blossom buds, and works well with the best damage dealers. One extra copy unlocks a healing Awakening, and that copy tends to come naturally from free standard pulls over time.
Daffodill
Daffodill is the only Chaos option if you do not have Lacrimosa, which means Nova, Scorch, and Discord reactions all depend on her for many accounts. She breaks bosses quickly, which leads to faster clears, and she works well as a damage dealer or sub DPS in your second Beyond the Rails team. She gets much better with extra copies.
A Tier Characters
Baicang
Baicang is a strong standard damage dealer, but he asks a lot of you. His Scorch team building is restrictive, and one mistimed input can wreck his rotation. He still makes a reliable carry for your second team, and he works with Lacrimosa, even if the pairing feels a little clunky.
Chiz
Chiz is a free S Class Cosmos damage dealer you unlock at City Tycoon level 18, and her signature Arc comes free too. She is simple to build, since she only needs Universal DMG, Cosmos DMG, and Crit DMG. Her problem is that she cannot benefit from attack buffers like Iroi, and she cannot pair with Hotori. She also relies on precise timing and some luck. Played perfectly, she comes close to S tier.
Fadia
Fadia is the best sustain character in the game. Healers are not always needed at the highest Beyond the Rails floors, but carries with long, uncancelable animations, like Chaos, need someone to keep them alive while they tank hits. That is where Fadia shines. She also fits Nova teams thanks to a passive that lowers enemy Max HP.
Adler
Adler is a free A Class Incantation character with a decent shield, but his real value comes from Scorch teams. He adds an extra damage over time effect without stealing field time from Lacrimosa, which pumps up Sakiri’s passive. Outside Scorch he struggles to find a spot, so he is great in one team and not much else.
B Tier Characters
Aurelia
Aurelia is a free A Class Psyche damage dealer who fires auto aimed shots while you hold dodge. On paper her damage looks good. In practice, the constant dodging drains stamina fast against aggressive enemies, and she clashes with burst characters like Daffodill and Hathor. She can solo Beyond the Rails using the solo damage buff, but so can other characters.
Mint
Mint is the game’s mascot and a free A Class Anima damage dealer. Her hyper carry team sits near the bottom in damage. Her real use is her element. When your best Anima characters are busy in your first team, Mint can fill the Anima slot in your second team and help trigger Charged or Blossom reactions.
C & D Tier Characters
Skia
Skia has the lowest damage as a hyper carry, but his Lakshana element makes him a budget replacement for Hathor. He adds some debuffs and crowd control without taking much field time. He can help you clear content in a pinch, but he should be a low priority.
Edgar
Edgar is a pure healer, and in a meta where dodging beats healing, he has very little to offer. His passive that boosts energy from Charged reactions sounds useful with Hotori, but its 30 second cooldown falls out of sync after the first rotation. He sits at the bottom of every major ranking right now.
How We Ranked the Best NTE Characters in this tier list?
We put this Neverness to Everness tier list together by cross checking several community rankings and databases, then placing each character where those rankings broadly agree. Here is what each tier means.
| Tier | What It Means |
| S+ | Meta defining. These characters make whole team types work and stay strong in almost any lineup. |
| S | Top performers with a small catch, such as needing a specific partner or having a narrower role. |
| A | Great in the right team, but limited by team building, difficulty, or a stronger alternative. |
| B | Can clear endgame content, but they lean on stronger teammates to get there. |
| C | Fallback picks that fill an element slot when you have nothing better. |
| D | Struggles in every role right now. |
These core factors shaped our hero placements:
- Team value matters more than solo damage – NTE is built around Esper reactions, so a support that powers up three different teams can outrank a raw damage dealer.
- Beyond the Rails needs two teams – Characters who make a solid second team have more value than they would in a game with a single squad.
- S Class characters are judged with no extra copies – A Class and free characters are easier to fully awaken, so their placement assumes more copies.
- Offense wins in the current meta – Pure healers fall behind because dodging usually beats tanking a hit and healing it back.
Best NTE Teams to Use in Version 1.3
Beyond the Rails requires two teams, so you cannot put every top character in one squad. Plan your two teams so they do not fight over the same supports. These lineups are built from the characters that the rankings above agree work best together.
| Team | Main Carry | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 | Notes |
| Mono Blossom | Nanally | Zero | Hotori | Iroi | One of the strongest teams in the game. Zero and Hotori feed constant reactions. |
| Scorch (damage over time) | Lacrimosa | Zankou | Sakiri | Adler | Every slot stacks damage over time. Baicang can replace Zankou. |
| Follow Up and Hexed | Zankou | Linko | Nanally | Iroi | Linko buffs follow up damage for both carries. |
| Charged (Chaos) | Chaos | Hathor | Hotori | Fadia | Fadia keeps Chaos alive while he tanks hits. Zero can replace Fadia if you dodge well. |
| Charged (Shinku) | Shinku | Nanally | Hathor | Zero | Nanally works as an Anima support here. Needs careful play. |
| Free Starter Team | Chiz | Zero | Mint | Hathor or Skia | Built around free characters. Use your standard selector on Hathor if you can. |
Driffle Tip: The Mono Blossom and Follow Up teams both want Nanally and Iroi, so pick one of them as your first team and build the other around Lacrimosa or Chaos.
Best Free Characters in Neverness to Everness
If you are playing without spending, you already have access to some strong units.
- Zero is free and sits in S+ tier. Build them first.
- Haniel is a free A Class support who ranks in S tier.
- Chiz is a free S Class carry once you hit City Tycoon level 18.
- Adler, Mint, and Aurelia are free A Class characters that help fill gaps early on.
You also get a standard S Class selector. The standard pool includes Baicang, Daffodill, Fadia, Hathor, Jiuyuan, and Sakiri. Sakiri is the safest choice because she is the highest ranked standard character. If you already have a strong buffer, Hathor or Jiuyuan are excellent alternatives.
Who to Reroll for in Neverness to Everness?
If you are starting a new account, aim for one of these limited characters:
- Zankou gives you a flexible top carry who works with many free characters.
- Linko boosts several teams and stays useful as more carries release.
- Hotori has lasting value because her zero second burst never gets outdated.
- Iroi improves nearly any team you build.
Since Zero is free, pulling Hotori or Nanally gives you an early start on the Mono Blossom team.
Neverness to Everness Version 1.4 Characters: What to Expect Next
Version 1.4, titled For Whom the Verses Mourn, launches on September 30 and brings two new limited S Class characters.
| Character | Element | Board Phase | Status |
| Blackbird | Psyche | Phase 1, alongside a Lacrimosa rerun | Not ranked yet (TBA) |
| Akane Rin | Lakshana | Phase 2, from October 21 | Not ranked yet (TBA) |
Blackbird is a Psyche main DPS, and Akane Rin is a Lakshana character, which could matter a lot for Charged and Remora teams that currently rely on Hathor. We will add both to this Neverness to Everness tier list once their full kits are tested in game. Until then, the Lacrimosa rerun is the safest pull in the first half of the update, especially if you already own Sakiri or Zankou.
If you want to see how Hotta Studio balanced characters in its previous game, check out our Tower of Fantasy tier list.
More Gacha Tier Lists to Check Out
If you are juggling more than one gacha game, our Wuthering Waves tier list, Zenless Zone Zero tier list, Honkai Star Rail tier list, and Genshin Impact tier list cover the latest metas in those games. Still hunting for your next game? Our list of the best gacha games in 2026 is a good place to start.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q1. Who is the best character in Neverness to Everness right now?
Zankou, Zero, and Iroi are the strongest overall picks in Version 1.3. Hotori and Linko are close behind because of how many teams they improve.
Q2. Is Zero good in Neverness to Everness?
Yes. Zero is S+ tier and one of the most important characters in the game. Their instant Esper Meter refill gives your team extra reactions, and they are free.
Q3. Who should I pick with the S Class selector in NTE?
Sakiri is the best standard pick. Hathor and Jiuyuan are strong alternatives, and Daffodill is worth it if you do not have Lacrimosa and want access to Chaos reactions.
Q4. Do I need meta characters to finish the NTE story?
No. The story is easy to clear with any team that is built properly. The rankings in this Neverness to Everness tier list matter most for Beyond the Rails and High Risk Commissions.
Q5. How many teams do I need for Beyond the Rails?
You need two teams. Since characters cannot be shared, plan both lineups together so your best supports are split sensibly.
Q6. Should I pull for Lacrimosa in Version 1.4?
If you missed her the first time, yes. She is S+ tier, easy to play, and makes standard characters like Sakiri, Baicang, and Adler much stronger.
Q7. Is Chiz worth building in Neverness to Everness?
Yes, especially for new players. She is a free S Class carry and very easy to gear. She falls behind limited carries later because she cannot use attack buffers or Hotori.
Q8. Who is the worst character in Neverness to Everness?
Edgar sits at the bottom right now. His kit is almost entirely healing, which the current offense focused meta does not reward.
Q9. Will this NTE tier list change in Version 1.4?
Yes. Blackbird and Akane Rin will be ranked after release, and existing placements can shift as new characters change which teams perform best.
