Which Characters You Should Pull First | NTE

Jessica Turner

Jun 23, 2026

Making the right character choices early in Neverness to Everness (NTE) can spare Appraisers from burning weeks of resources on the wrong investments. Rather than chasing every banner, new players are better served by understanding which roles matter most in the early game and which characters fill those roles best. This guide breaks down the key character roles in NTE, which units beginners should prioritize pulling for, and what makes each recommended character unique.

Appraisers! Before chasing your first S-Class picks, make sure your account is funded the smart way. LootBar offers fast, secure deals on Neverness to Everness Top up, so every pull counts.

Why Prioritize These Characters for Leveling and Ascension

Early-game resources in NTE, things like Mind Shards, Awakening materials, and Arc upgrades, are limited, which means spreading them across too many characters slows everyone's progress down. Focusing investment on a smaller set of proven, versatile units lets Appraisers push them to higher Awakening and Ascension levels much faster, which translates directly into clearing tougher content sooner. The characters below were chosen because they hold up across multiple roles and team compositions, so resources spent on them now won't be wasted when better options eventually arrive.

Which Characters Should Beginners Pull First?

Character	Role	Why They're Worth Pulling
Nanally	Main DPS	High-frequency Anima damage with strong follow-up attacks during her Ultimate. Pairs especially well with Esper Zero and performs well in both combat and exploration content, making her a long-term investment, not just an early boost.
Lacrimosa	Main DPS	Copies enemy skills via her Basic Attack and unleashes them through Redirect Skill, while switching between melee and ranged combat. Inflicts Nightmare, a Chaos DoT that keeps her damage consistently high without needing precise rotations.
Hotori	Sub-DPS / Support	A Cosmos hybrid who extends fight windows through a time-stop effect and records ally skills to unleash as bonus damage later. She multiplies the value of whatever team she's slotted into rather than just adding her own numbers.

Best Standard Banner Characters to Pull First

Character	Role	Why They're Worth Pulling
Hathor	Burst DPS	One of two Lakshana characters at launch. Builds stacks toward an enhanced Ultimate window where she unleashes massive burst damage, making her a strong finisher once her resource management clicks.
Sakiri	Support / Crowd Control	A flexible Standard Banner buffer who locks down enemies with her Ultimate while granting a Team ATK buff, and also triggers Scorch to boost damage-over-time teammates. Useful in nearly any composition, which makes her a safe early pull.
Jiuyuan	Burst DPS	Builds Lethal Rose Pact stacks before triggering Pact Settlement for heavy Anima burst damage. At Awakening 1 she can flex into a healer-adjacent role, giving beginners unusual flexibility from a single pull.
Fadia	Survival / Tank	Redirects and reflects ally damage taken back onto enemies, with her Ultimate casting automatically once her HP crosses a threshold. A strong pick for beginners who are still learning enemy attack patterns and need a buffer against mistakes.
Daffodil	Support / DPS Enabler	The only confirmed Chaos element character at launch, making her essential for triggering Nova, Scorch, and Discord Esper Cycle reactions that other units, including Sakiri and Baicang, depend on. Also a key pick for building a second team, since endgame content requires two full parties.

Hathor, Sakiri, Jiuyuan, Fadia, and Daffodill earned their spot because they're consistently obtainable through standard pulls, Annulith exchange, or the S-Class selector, so beginners can actually plan around getting them rather than relying on luck. Each one also fills a role that's hard to cover otherwise this early, crowd control and buffing, burst damage with flex healer utility, and survival through damage redirection, making them a foundation that keeps performing well into the mid and late game.

Appraisers, the Standard Banner is randomized, so pull at your own risk since there's no guarantee you'll land the character you want. That said, once you've got them, they're good to keep, no regrets there.

Using the Standard Board Selector Wisely

After completing 50 pulls on the Standard Board, every account receives a one-time selector for any S-Class character in the standard pool, including Baicang, Daffodil, Fadia, Hathor, Jiuyuan, and Sakiri. This is a free account reward, separate from the pity system, and it does not expire.

The majority recommendation across community guides is to hold the selector rather than use it immediately. With roughly 170 free standard pulls available from launch-period rewards, many Appraisers will naturally pull at least one S-Class character before reaching that point. Waiting allows the selector to fill whatever gap remains in a player's roster rather than risking a duplicate. Choosing a Support or Burst DPS over a generic Main DPS is also a reasonable approach, since those roles tend to resist long-term power creep more effectively.

Conclusion

Whether the goal is a smooth early game or a roster built for the long run, filling out a team with a main DPS like Nanally or Lacrimosa, a buffer like Sakiri or Hotori, a survival pick like Fadia, and a burst finisher like Jiuyuan or Hathor gives new Appraisers a flexible, well-rounded team built around roles rather than rarity, and holding the S-Class selector until the gaps are clear while keeping up with daily progression ensures every pull counts for more — and Appraisers ready to top up the smart way can do so through LootBar for safe, discounted NTE Top ups and more pulls for less.