NTE Launch Characters: Who to Pull on Day 1 (April 29)

NTE Launch Characters: Who to Pull on Day 1 (April 29)

Neverness to Everness launches on April 29, and the single biggest decision you'll make in your first hour is where to spend your pulls. Get it right and you'll cruise through the early game with a stacked roster. Get it wrong and you'll be grinding uphill for weeks wondering why everything feels harder than it should.

This guide breaks down every launch banner, ranks the characters we know from beta, and gives you a clear pull plan whether you're F2P, a light spender, or willing to reroll.

Based on Cooperative Existence beta test data. Final launch stats may vary.

Launch Banner Overview

NTE launches with multiple banners running simultaneously. If you've played other gacha RPGs, the structure will feel familiar, but there are a few NTE-specific quirks worth understanding before you spend a single pull.

• Limited character banner — Features a new limited S-rank character exclusive to this banner period. This character will not be added to the standard pool after the banner ends. Once they're gone, you wait for a rerun, and reruns in gacha games are never guaranteed to come quickly.
• Standard (permanent) banner — Contains the base pool of S-rank characters that are available at all times. These characters never leave. You can pull them today, next month, or six months from now.
• Arc (weapon) banner — Features signature weapons paired with the limited character. These weapons boost the featured character's performance significantly, but they are a luxury, not a necessity. Skip this on day 1 unless you're a whale. Seriously. A character at base with no signature weapon will outperform no character at all.

The golden rule: pull on the limited banner first. Standard pool characters don't go away. Limited characters do. Every pull you put into the standard banner on day 1 is a pull that could have gone toward a character you literally cannot get later.

The one exception is the discounted first-50 standard banner pulls, which we'll cover in the reroll section below.

Tier Ranking (Beta Data)

These rankings are based on the Cooperative Existence beta. Character names and abilities may change at launch. Hoyoverse, Kuro, miHoYo — every developer tweaks numbers between beta and release. Treat this as a strong directional guide, not gospel.

That said, beta data has historically been very reliable for identifying which characters are strong in concept. Kit redesigns between beta and launch are rare. Number tuning is common but rarely changes a character's tier.

S+ Tier -- Must Pull (If Available at Launch)

Lydia -- Flame DPS. Lydia was the undisputed queen of the Cooperative Existence beta. Her kit delivers extremely high single-target and AoE damage simultaneously, which is rare for a DPS character. Most damage dealers in NTE force you to choose between nuking a single boss or clearing a wave of enemies. Lydia does both. Her scaling is aggressive — she gets noticeably stronger with each ascension and talent upgrade, which means your investment is rewarded generously. If she's on the launch banner, she is the top priority. No question.

Miu -- Frost Support/Sub-DPS. Miu is the other character that warped the beta meta. She provides massive team-wide damage buffs and frost-based crowd control that locks enemies in place while your DPS tears them apart. What makes Miu special is her flexibility — she fits into nearly every team composition regardless of element. You don't build a team around Miu. You slot Miu into whatever team you're already running and it gets better. That kind of universal value is extremely rare in gacha games.

S Tier -- Worth Pulling

Nanally -- Thunder DPS. Consistent electro damage with strong sustained DPS over long fights. Nanally rewards players who enjoy active, combo-heavy gameplay. Her damage ceiling is high, but you need to actually execute her combos correctly to reach it. If you enjoy skill-based combat and want a character that feels satisfying to master, Nanally is your pick. She's slightly below Lydia in raw output but far from weak.

Fay -- Wind Support. Excellent healer and buffer who makes the early game dramatically smoother. If you've ever played a gacha RPG where you kept dying in story missions because you had no healer, Fay is the answer. She stays relevant in endgame content too — her buffs scale well and her healing is never wasted. A safe, strong pull that you won't regret.

A Tier -- Skip If Low on Resources

Roux -- Physical DPS. Roux has a solid kit with satisfying gameplay, but physical damage is less favored in early endgame content. Most of the challenging bosses and domains in the first few patches have resistance to physical damage or mechanics that favor elemental reactions. Roux is a good choice if you genuinely like the character's design and playstyle, but from a pure meta perspective, she's not a priority when your resources are limited.

Characters in A tier will absolutely have their moments in future content. NTE's endgame is designed to rotate which elements and damage types are favored. No character in NTE is truly bad — but when you only have enough pulls for one S-rank at launch, you want the one that will carry you the furthest right now.

The Reroll Strategy

If you want the strongest possible start and you're willing to invest some time, here's the optimal reroll path that the beta community refined over weeks of testing.

1. Complete the tutorial — This takes about 20-30 minutes. You'll earn your initial batch of free pulls through story progression and mail rewards. Don't skip dialogue on your first run so you understand the mechanics. Skip everything on subsequent reroll attempts.

2. Do your first 50 pulls on the standard banner — This uses Fabricated Dice, which is the free currency you earn through gameplay. The first 50 pulls on the standard banner are discounted, meaning each pull costs fewer Dice than normal. This is a one-time discount per account, so always use it.

3. Use the S-rank selector — After completing 50 standard banner pulls, you receive a free S-rank selector that lets you choose one character from the standard pool. Pick Hathor if you want the most versatile option that works everywhere. If you already have a strong preference for a specific playstyle, pick whoever fits that best. But Hathor is the safe, universally-good choice.

4. Use remaining Solid Dice on the limited banner — After the standard banner discount, redirect every premium pull currency (Solid Dice) into the limited character banner. This is where your real investment goes.

5. Evaluate your account — Look at what you pulled. Do you have the limited character? Did you get lucky with any early S-ranks from the standard banner? If you're happy with the result, keep the account. If not, start over.

6. Rerolling takes about 30-40 minutes per attempt. It's worth doing 2-3 times at most. Beyond that, you're burning time you could spend actually playing and earning pulls through progression. Diminishing returns hit hard after the third reroll.

Should F2P Players Pull the First Limited Banner?

This is the question that matters most for free-to-play players, and the answer depends on who's actually featured.

Here's what we know about your resources at launch: you'll have approximately 80-90 free pulls available during launch week. That comes from pre-registration rewards, story completion, exploration, achievement bonuses, and launch event missions. It's a generous start.

That's enough to hit soft pity once — pull 70 is where rates start increasing significantly — with a high probability of walking away with the featured S-rank character.

• If the launch banner features an S+ or S tier character: yes, pull. Absolutely. Don't hesitate. Lydia, Miu, Nanally, or Fay on the launch banner means you pull until you get them.
• If the launch banner features an A tier character: consider saving for patch 2. Your pulls don't expire. Holding them for a stronger banner in 3-6 weeks is a legitimate and often smarter strategy.

Here's the rule of thumb that F2P players should tattoo on their brain: you can guarantee roughly one limited character every 2 patches. That means you need to be selective. Pulling on every banner is not an option. Choose wisely, and commit fully when you do pull.

One more thing — patch 2 banners are usually known in advance from beta leaks and datamines. Before you commit your pulls on day 1, check community resources and leaks channels. If patch 2 has a must-pull character and you're already at zero pity, saving might be the play.

Standard Banner Characters Worth Targeting

These characters are permanently available in the standard pool. You can get them from standard banner pulls or from the S-rank selector after your first 50 pulls. There is no 50/50 system in NTE — you only obtain standard characters through the standard banner or the selector. You will never pull a standard character from the limited banner.

Hathor -- Versatile support/sub-DPS. Hathor works in almost every team you can build. She provides a mix of damage, utility, and survivability that makes her the ultimate plug-and-play character. She is the consensus top pick from the S-rank selector, and for good reason. If you're unsure who to pick, pick Hathor. You will use her.

Cerys -- Physical/Dark DPS with strong self-sustain. Cerys excels in solo content where you can't rely on teammates to cover your weaknesses. Her self-healing and damage reduction let her survive situations that would kill other DPS characters. If you enjoy tackling tough content alone, Cerys is your character.

Valen -- Tank/shielder. Valen makes difficult content dramatically easier by absorbing damage and providing shields to the whole team. Tanks are chronically underrated in gacha games because players fixate on damage numbers. But clearing content you couldn't clear before is worth more than clearing easy content 10% faster. Valen is an underrated pick that experienced gacha players tend to value highly.

These characters don't go away. Prioritize limited characters first, then fill gaps with standard pool picks over time. You'll eventually get most of them through natural pulling — there's no rush.

Final Thoughts

Day 1 of a gacha launch is exciting, but it's also when players make their most expensive mistakes. Don't pull impulsively. Check who's on the banner. Reference the tier list. Decide before you start pulling whether you're going all-in or saving, and then stick to that decision.

The meta will shift. New characters will power-creep old ones. But a strong day-1 foundation — one limited S-rank and one good standard character from the selector — will carry you through months of content without regret.

Track your pull progress from day 1 with NTETracker. Every pull counted, every pity tracked, across all 4 counters. Join the waitlist — it's free forever.