Neverness to Everness Tier List: Best Characters Ranked

Neverness to Everness launches players into Hethereau City with a roster built around wildly different playstyles, and not every character deserves equal investment. Annulith is your most limited resource, and spending it on the wrong units sets your account back significantly. This tier list ranks every character available in NTE Version 1.0 so you can plan your pulls and build the strongest team possible from day one.

Neverness to Everness Tier List

This ranking factors in raw damage output, team utility, flexibility across content types, and overall resource value. Tiers reflect current Version 1.0 performance; future updates will shift individual rankings as new characters and patches arrive.

SS Tier: The Absolute Best Characters in NTE

SS-tier characters define the current meta. These units deliver the highest impact per resource invested, and building your team around them gives you the clearest path to clearing the game’s hardest content.

Hotori

Hotori sits at the very top of the tier list because her kit does something no other character can replicate. She records her allies’ Skills and triggered Esper Cycles using her own Skill, then replays all of them when she casts her Ultimate. Her Ultimate also stops time for every enemy on the field while she enters an empowered state, dealing a massive burst of damage to frozen targets. The result is an effective doubling of your team’s damage output during her windows. Any team that runs Hotori hits harder than an equivalent team without her. She works in virtually every composition and scales with every DPS you place alongside her.

Why Pick Hotori: Best sub-DPS in Version 1.0. Her skill-recording mechanic has no equivalent and makes every other unit on your team perform better.

Nanally

Nanally delivers the highest raw damage output among all characters currently available. Her kit revolves around an Underboss summon that coordinates follow-up attacks alongside every strike she lands. This creates a damage multiplication effect where each hit triggers additional damage instances from the summon. The Underboss also applies a small pull effect on enemies during its active window, which helps keep mobile targets in range. Nanally excels at both single-target boss damage and AoE mob clearing, making her viable across every content type. Stack attack buffs from Sakiri or Haniel and Nanally’s output becomes overwhelming.

Why Pick Nanally: Highest DPS floor and ceiling in Version 1.0. The limited banner placement makes her a priority pull before she rotates out.

Sakiri

Sakiri provides something no other support in the game currently offers: a team-wide 30% ATK buff after casting her Ultimate. Every team that uses a DPS character benefits from this passive, and the buff scales with how much you invest in your attackers. Beyond the damage amplification, Sakiri offers exceptional crowd control. Tapping her Skill pulls enemies together and knocks them down; holding the Skill pulls enemies in and levitates them, compressing scattered groups into a single point for AoE damage. The standard Sakiri rotation involves grouping enemies with her Skill, casting her Ultimate for the ATK buff, then swapping to your main DPS to capitalize on the amplified damage window.

Why Pick Sakiri: The best offensive support in Version 1.0. She makes every DPS on your roster perform better and handles crowd control simultaneously. Available through the free S-class selector.

S Tier: Strong Picks for Any Role

S-tier characters are excellent in their dedicated roles and perform well in most team compositions. They are slightly below SS tier in overall impact but require no justification to build.

Jiuyuan

Jiuyuan is the strongest standard banner DPS in Neverness to Everness. She specializes in burst damage with very quick rotations, making her ideal as a rotating sub-DPS who cycles in, deals massive damage, and rotates back out. Her kit contributes significant crowd control on the field, gathering enemies for easier AoE clears. Players who grab her second copy unlock her A2 ability, which converts her into a team healer. That added utility elevates her account value considerably but does not change her combat role. Jiuyuan handles both single-target and AoE content effectively, and her place on the standard banner makes her accessible over multiple pulls.

Why Pick Jiuyuan: Best standard banner DPS with excellent burst windows and crowd control. Becomes a hybrid sustain with one dupe.

Chiz

Chiz is the best free character in Neverness to Everness, and the game gives her to every player with all awakening copies simply by progressing through the main story via the Tycoon system. Her Grain mechanic ties damage output to in-game funds, creating a risk-reward loop where correct timing during her Ultimate’s Grain Market state delivers maximum damage. She demands more mechanical investment than most DPS characters, but players who learn her rhythm see serious damage output. Chiz is available to every account regardless of gacha luck, making her the reliable damage backbone for free-to-play players. Her S-tier placement may shift downward in later versions as newer characters arrive.

Why Pick Chiz: Completely free with full awakenings. The best F2P damage option in Version 1.0.

Baicang

Baicang is the strongest Damage-over-Time character in NTE. He applies persistent Incantation DoT stacks through his standard rotation and delivers heavy burst damage with his Ultimate while layering additional DoT on top. His kit also allows for self-healing, giving him moderate survivability compared to pure DPS units. Baicang runs multiple modes that shift between single-target focus, AoE spread, and healing recovery, which makes him a flexible pick even outside dedicated DoT teams. Players who skipped Nanally on the first banner will find Baicang a strong alternative main DPS on the standard pool.

Why Pick Baicang: Best DoT DPS in the game. Solid pick for players who prefer standard banner options or want to build a full Incantation team.

Haniel

Haniel functions as the A-class counterpart to Sakiri in the support role. She provides team-wide ATK buffs through both her Skill and Ultimate, making her a consistent and low-maintenance buffer for any lineup. Her A-class rarity is a major advantage: players can acquire and max out Haniel without any meaningful gacha investment. She has minimal damage output and limited utility beyond buffing, so her role is straightforward. Swap in, apply buffs, swap out. That simplicity makes her reliable in any team that needs an accessible support option.

Why Pick Haniel: Best A-class support in NTE. Easy to obtain, easy to build, and immediately useful in any damage-focused team.

A Tier: Solid Choices with Specific Strengths

A-tier characters perform well in their designated roles and carry players through most content. They often shine in specific teams or content types but fall short of SS and S tier in overall versatility.

Esper Zero

Esper Zero is the main protagonist and arrives free for every player. Her Instant Cycle mechanic accelerates Esper Cycle activation across the entire team, which speeds up coordinated damage rotations and increases how often teammates trigger their own Esper abilities. She also provides a passive self-heal, giving her better survivability than most dedicated damage units. Esper Zero fits into virtually any team as a sub-DPS and pairs naturally with support characters. The Day Off Arc is the best weapon for her, and it is also free. Her ceiling is not as high as Nanally or Hotori in pure damage terms, but she contributes meaningful utility that other A-tier DPS characters lack.

Why Pick Esper Zero: Free protagonist with real team-wide utility. The Instant Cycle mechanic gives her value in any composition.

Daffodill

Daffodill specializes in breaking enemy stances and capitalizing on the damage window that follows. Her passive reduces enemy break cap by 10%, allowing her to shatter stances faster than other characters. She also excels at plunge attacks, dealing increased damage based on fall height. Her long-range dodge lets her reposition mid-combo, which is particularly useful for dodging boss AoE attacks without breaking momentum. Daffodill performs best against bosses, where her parry and swap abilities create strong burst windows. Players prioritizing boss content will find her more valuable than her tier placement alone suggests.

Why Pick Daffodill: Best stance-break damage in the game. A high-priority swap target during Support Skill parries in boss fights.

Hathor

Hathor builds damage through feather stacks that unleash strong AoE bursts once charged. She has excellent mobility in combat and performs well as a plunge DPS, similar to Daffodill. Pre-launch nerfs reduced her damage ceiling compared to beta performance, which pushed her out of the S-tier in most current rankings. Her redeeming quality outside combat is her Life Skill, which generates extra Cartridges per day and provides bonuses in several game modes. Players who want to maximize daily resource income will find Hathor offers value beyond pure combat performance.

Why Pick Hathor: Good AoE damage with strong account-wide resource bonuses through her Life Skill.

Adler

Adler is the best shielder in Neverness to Everness. His Skill applies a protective shield to the entire team with a single activation, which dramatically improves survivability for any lineup. He also applies enemy debuffs through his passive and contributes Incantation DoT stacks, giving him minor damage utility that synergizes with Baicang in dedicated DoT compositions. Adler is an A-class character, so obtaining and building him requires minimal investment. His shielding makes him a reliable pick for players who struggle with certain boss attack patterns or want a more forgiving team setup while learning the combat system.

Why Pick Adler: Best A-class sustain option. His team-wide shield is one button press and covers almost any survivability need.

B Tier: Situational or Outclassed Options

B-tier characters work in general content but fall short of higher-tier units in both damage and utility. They are acceptable for story progression and casual play but not worth heavy investment if better options are available.

Mint

Mint is the first character players receive alongside Esper Zero and serves as a reliable early-game DPS option. Her parry capability is strong thanks to a low skill cooldown, and she handles both single-target and AoE damage reasonably well during the opening hours of the game. Higher-rarity DPS characters quickly outclass her once players acquire them, which limits her long-term value. Mint is a good safety net during the early progression before better options come online, but investing resources into her beyond that point is difficult to justify.

Fadia

Fadia fills a unique sustain role by redirecting incoming damage from allies to herself rather than healing or shielding. Part of the redirected damage also bounces back to enemies, giving her a passive offensive contribution. Her Ultimate heals herself to maintain uptime in extended fights. The damage redirection mechanic is conceptually interesting but has not proven impactful in the current Version 1.0 meta. Adler’s shields provide more reliable protection, and dedicated healers like Edgar cover situations where Fadia falls short. She remains a valid option if no better sustain units are available.

Aurelia

Aurelia provides decent crowd control through her Ultimate but deals low damage output across her full kit. She also has limited mobility compared to most other characters, particularly in dodging and aerial movement, which creates openings for enemy attacks during faster boss encounters. Her overall performance does not justify heavy investment when higher-tier options occupy the same team slots.

C Tier: Avoid Heavy Investment

C-tier characters are heavily outclassed by every tier above them. They are not worth meaningful resource investment in Version 1.0. Use them as temporary filler during early progression only.

Skia

Skia has a visually distinct combat style built around shadow-based attacks, but his damage output falls well below other A-class characters. He shows some elemental synergy with Chiz through the Lakshana element and contributes decent AoE crowd control, but neither quality elevates him above C-tier. Future updates that build out Lakshana team compositions could improve his ranking, but that potential does not make him worth investing in now.

Edgar

Edgar is the only dedicated healer in Neverness to Everness at launch. His healing area is stationary, which makes it unreliable in fast-paced fights where enemies and characters move constantly. Both Adler and Fadia outperform Edgar as sustain options in most content because their kits offer additional offensive or utility value alongside survival. Edgar becomes situationally useful in static encounters or when pure healing is the only viable solution, but those situations are rare in Version 1.0.

Best DPS Characters in NTE

Best Support Characters in NTE

Best Sustain Characters in NTE

Tier List Criteria

Rankings are based on kit analysis, Version 1.0 performance data, and cross-referencing multiple high-level accounts. Tier lists shift as new characters release and balance patches land. Check back for updates as NTE progresses past Version 1.0.  Play Now!

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