NIKKE Tier list

Story

Story refers to Campaign/Tower stages (mostly mobbing but bosses are also factored in slightly) performed at >25% Deficit.

Assumptions of this tier list include:

• Adequate provision of OL gear, Doll, and Cube, and skill upgrades. Investment costs will not be factored in during rating.
• Optimal (but reasonable) gameplay, so no auto Alice/BMilk. RH B1 & Liberalio will require stalling tech. Crown requires pre-stacking to 17~19, etc.
• Mastery of advanced tech, including burst gen-ning, stalling, instant double rotations (RH B1 + 2 B2 tech), i-framing, etc.
• Willingness to restart for perfect RNG.
• 60 FPS or Min. Firing Rounds Adjustments turned on.
• Ability to leverage faster rotations and higher burst gen and understanding why these matter a lot in High Deficit.
• Higher emphasis on team performance than individual performance. Units are rated in their best (and other suitable) teams.
• Input from lowest clears of various stages (all-time and/or after a groundbreaking unit release).
• Ability to follow reference videos/understand why they work or the ability to create your own optimal run.
• Familiarity with different team formations/templates and their gimmicks. Not tied to simply "1-1-2-FLEX" with Siren B1 because, while that's the meta, there are alternatives.

Other important things to note that are also taken into account:

• Some stages in later chapters have special mechanics, such as hitcount, which can be handled easily by MG but not other weapon types.
• Extremely high CP deficit leads to a massive damage reduction, which makes True DMG and ATK buff more valuable.
• This tier list assumes that people have access to a more complete roster, thus team building becomes the primary concern instead of individual performance.
• This tier list has more emphasis on faster rotations and higher burst gen, as they allow you to kill enemies before they can even kill you.
• This tier list is a matter of who kills whom first. It's not about damage. As long as the enemy dies before they shoot, you gain the upper hand. In fact, high CP deficits make enemies hit harder, so tanking isn't really the ideal way to survive. Offense is a good defense.

Special markings:

As mentioned in About the Tier List and Special Markings - Some Nikkes only shine (or improve dramatically) if a specific unit is in the team or she is in specific teams.

Accordingly, here is a list of Partners for Nikkes marked with Partner Tag

• Naga: Crown, Tia
• SBS: Liberalio, Alice
• Tove, ToveTr, ArcanaFM: Shotgun Users
• SW: MirandaTr
• Blanc: Rouge or Noir
• Tia: Naga
• TEmma: TEunhwa
• Isabel: Arcana, Arcana: Isabel
• Trina: Scarlet, Moran, Scarlet: Trina
• DeltaNT: Crown
• Chime: Crown
• PrivatyUM: Leona, ToveTr, Tove
• Bready: Sustained or Distributed DMG Buffer
• Velvet: Siren
• Takina Inoue: True DMG DPS
• Zwei (Treasure): Pierce DPS

The concept of usability in each game-mode can be different, even if a unit is good. Tier Lists tend to only show the strengths of certain characters but can fail to show how usable they might be in situations. The Meta Lines and Situational Lines are made specifically for this.

With the addition of Meta Lines, we intend to showcase the usability of a Nikke, and whether or not they really are worthy of investments or not depending on the user's play-style using:

• Meta Line
• Units above the purple line: Meta, Highly Usable Unit. Will not have a problem to fit into teams. The absolute best units for this game mode. These units make the game easy.
• Best replacement / Situational
• Units above green line: Either they are the best units to use if you don't have units above purple, or their use is situational (i.e. depends on element or design of stage/boss, requirement of heals/taunts, etc.). An example is: Maid Privaty would be used over the likes of 2B against a boss like Crystal Chamber in Solo Raids, while the opposite would happen if the Boss was fire weak and far away, like Stormbringer Solo Raid.
• Units below green line: These units are often used when players do not have units above green line. If you have all units, these units will struggle to find a spot in meta teams, and are often used for their niche. (such as Ade's buff dispel, Nihilister being used for fire elemental QTE barriers, Admi being used for her reload speed, etc.)

Note: Meta Lines are more applicable for commanders who have most units already available. If you are a New Commander, using tiers as a literal guide will be more beneficial overall.

Story

• SSS - The absolute best of the best; if you don't have these, you're screwed (literally).
• SS - Either they go along with the SSS units or they replace them, outshining them in some situations, typically on elemental advantage or favorable stage designs.
• S - Either they go along with the higher-tier units or they are used as alternatives. They can outshine higher-tier units in some contexts.
• A - Same as S but with worse overall possession value/strength. They can still outshine higher-tier units in some contexts.
• B - You don't normally use these units for mobbing, but you can make them work. Some may have niche uses, but they are otherwise outshone.
• C - Same as B but worse or more restricted.
• D - If you need emotional support, they can help.
• E - Why add a Rapture to your team?
• F - Reserved for R units.

Bossing

• SSS - These units have a strong presence in nearly all Bossing content (can brute force), have huge possession values, or are used almost all the time in Solo Raid.
• SS - These units have less possession value/strength than units in the SS tier or have some restrictions that make them unable to being rated higher. While they may not be the best, they are great alternatives and the DPS will beat SSS units against countered elements. They also have a notable presence in Neutral, which sets them apart from S units.
• S - Units in this TL have good Neutral coverage (especially supports) and/or are BiS for their elements in Singular-Team Bossing Content (UR, AI, etc) but are not as impactful as SS+. They are also often "the second best element hypercarry" in SR. We recommend building them first before most of A and lower because the DPS here can be used in ALL elements (to a lesser preference compared to SS+).
• A - A units are niche supports/elemental-specifics. They are not as valuable as S tiers, but they boost your damage in their SR element considerably. Units that see common use in Solo Raid will be A or higher, but if these units are cope/used because there aren't proper units, they will be placed B to show they have lower strength/value than those in A. Some units may deserve B, but if they are better than most of B, they will be placed in A.
• B - Units in B are mostly situational/replacements, aren't common in Top Leaderboards of SR, and are only used in very edge cases. View them as "if you don't have the better units, use them". We do not recommend investing in them until you know exactly what you are doing.
• C - We don't use these units, but they can be used as replacements if you don’t have anything better (yet). Some may see use, but are very, very, very niche.
• D-F - We don't recommend using these units at all, but the higher their tier is, the more usable they are.

PVP

• SSS - These units have high versatility and strength. They are the staple of all PvP rosters. You can say that you are bricked if you don't have one of them. Queens of PvP.
• SS - These units have strong overall performance, and some of them occupy a certain niche where no other Nikkes can replace them. They are legendary in these regards.
• S - Units from this tier and below are starting to show weakness when used on PVP Defense. Either they require a specific setup, demand high investments, or are easily counterable. They are often used as filler units but are decent alternatives (and sometimes superior). Some are extremely potent on Attack and have a much easier time finding use in Champion Arena.
• A - These units have above average performance but are nowhere near impactful as the top ones. However, they are still commonly seen on Attack and Champion Arena, but may need high investments to be used in DEF teams.
• B - Similar to A tier, but their impact extends to a lesser degree. They have niche uses and can be strong with proper investments, but they're not core to any teams. They are situationally used on Attack, rarely on Defense.
• C - These units may not be part of the meta, but are considered as the ultimate baseline of what can be considered usable in PvP in any sense. Be it a niche, average burst generation, or decent usability for incomplete rosters, these Nikkes can possibly be used to good effect.
• D & E - Units from these tiers are barely usable and have weak impact. They are just replacements for players with incomplete rosters.
• F - R unit hangout zone.

27.04.2026

Added Anis: Star to the tier list.

12.04.2026

Added Snow Crane to the tier list.

23.03.2026

Added Arcana: Fortune Mate to the tier list.

09.03.2026

Added E.H. to the tier list.

05.03.2026

Added Zwei (Treasure), Centi (Treasure) to the tier list.

Story Changes:

• Tactical Emma & Tactical Eunhwa: A → S The Tacticals (TVesti excluded because she can be used solo in Campaign) are a powerful duo who can obliterate some high deficit stages thanks to their True DMG & True DMG buffs. They are more competent than our A units, so we are placing her S to better reflect this.
• Chisato: S → A We initially placed her in S keeping her Campaign Altruia's dominance in mind, but while Bossing (High Deficit) is still a partial consideration for Story TL, we are lowering Chisato to avoid people overestimating her mobbing performance.

Bossing - Our theme for revision today is Simplification. We want to simplify our Tier List, so it is easier to hypothesize why a unit is placed in which tier. The changes include:

• Demotions
• B1:
• Rouge - SS → S: Moran's arrival as a meta B1 pushes Rouge down in usability, and in the overall meta.
• Label - A → B: Her performance and use-rates have been below par in raids, where her main use was expected to hold up. The introduction of Moran has most definitely pushed her down even further, diminishing her possible usability.
• B2:
• DeltaNT - A → B: Her use as an off-burst for Crown teams saw some solid use in the meta for a couple of raids. However, with new off-burst buffers being released, especially PrivatyTr, it is hard to see Delta stay in the meta tiers any longer.
• B3:
• Mihara: Bonding Chain - SSS → SS: One of the few units who saw a 100% use rate across raids since her release, but that now has diminished since Snow White: Heavy Arms and PrivatyTr have been introduced into the meta. The redefinition of SSS tier also sees Mihara out as she is not considered as big of a hyper-carry compared to RapiRH and SW:HA. That said, Mihara is still the strongest off burst DPS, so you can run her if your elemental DPS are not strong enough to carry with off-burst buffers.
• Promotions
• B1: No promotions
• B2:
• Velvet - A → S: With the redefinition of S tier, Velvet now enters S tier. UR Hyper-meta and single-team content elemental meta units are now valued higher on our tier list moving forwards.
• B3:
• Elegg: Boom and Shock - A → S: With the redefinition of S tier, S.Elegg now enters S tier. UR Hyper-meta and single-team content elemental meta units are now valued higher on our tier list moving forwards.
• Snow White, Milk: Blooming Bunny: A → S: The newly redefined S tier has now settled a spot for how good we believe pierce units to be. Their situational hyper-meta performance in game modes like UR, AI, Museum and even SRs (and even CO-OP!) against pierce-friendly bosses is common enough for us to consider them a tier above their usual elemental allies in A tier.
• Maxwell - A → S: With the arrival of so many hyper meta DPS across all elements, buffers like Maxwell and Ada see much more use, since buffing these meta elemental meta DPS is better than using another lower tier elemental DPS. Hence, we see Maxwell's value rise higher than what she was a year ago.
• Guillotine: Winter Slayer, Jill Valentine - B → A: Their performance has been impressive enough for us to consider giving them promotions. Jill's campaign bossing and Electric SR relevance, as well as xGuillo's sustained use-rate in SR are valid enough reasons, in our opinion, to promote them to join their elemental allies in A tier.

PVP

• Scarlet: SSS → SS She has taken a huge hit from Label, resulting in a significant usability drop in SpA. She's no longer effective on Defense (unless your rivals don't have Label), but she can still be used fine for Attack and CA (because of randomness).
• Blanc: SS → SSS Damage Reduction has become a plague in PvP, and units like Noah & Moran can sometimes only be countered by Indomitability setups. Not to mention, some DPS specifically require Indomitability due to their attacks being delayed. Because of that, she deserves SSS.
• Nayuta: S → SS Nayuta's Indomitability has proven to be too strong, especially under deficit (uphill battle). She can protect the team from instant lethal threats and survive a wipe whilst delivering plenty of damage (especially if buffed by RH B1).
• Bay Treasure: S → SS Bay is not as important as Noah or Blanc but is the next second best B2 because she is a Noah-lite. She can protect the team from decently strong wipes and heal the team continuously.
• Anis: SS → S With more burst gen options, Anis is becoming less important. She remains one of the highest burst gen characters, but her being an SR rarity means she doesn't scale with dupes, resulting in lower stat & CP, which can misdirect Indoms, etc. You can still use her if you don't have all the top burst gen units.
• Soda, SolineFT: B → S With our new criteria, they fit S better due to how many teams they enable and counter. Some teams can only be countered by their archetypes.
• XMaiden: SS → S This makes her rating ASS, by the way. While XMaiden has a strong Burst that can one-shot through Biscuit's untriggered protection, can synergize with Noise/Biscuit for tanking, as well as is a Defender DPS immune to Rosanna, she is used more as a team completor rather than a hypercarry.
• Ada: SS → S She is still the strongest off-burst buffer in PvP, and her lifesteal enables many comps. However, as a DPS, she is inconsistent, and therefore she can't hypercarry. As a enabler/complement, she fits S better.
• MiharaBC: A → S MiharaBC has been used as a enabler/complement regularly in CA. In SpA, she can be used to counter some comps on Attack, though you usually resort to other options first before pulling her out. As she is sometimes a key unit and can counter comps that many DPS struggle with, S fits better.
• EmmaTU, EunhwaTU: D, B → A Our old ratings focused too much on solo performance. While we clarified in their full reviews that they can be demons in PvP with TVesti (due to instant True DMG buffs), that potential isn't reflected properly on the TL. We are now focusing on team performance rather than solo, so A tier they go.
• XAnne: S → A In the past, when we didn't have enough B2, XAnne was a crucial unit. Being a reviver, she enabled many comps. Unfortunately, we don't need her powers anymore. The meta has changed. Not only that, not every DPS is an Attacker, so she is quite niche.
• PoliTr: B → A PoliTr was meta in CA for a while and can be used in SpA as an alternative. While now she is not meta because she has been replaced by Nayuta/ViperTr archetypes, she still retains her strength. We don't think her being powercrept is enough to lower her down just yet.
• SAnis: SS → A A dramatic move! You guys have probably seen us demoting her from SSS to SS a while ago, but that's not enough. As new DPS are released and archetypes are invented, SAnis loses her use as a "versatile DPS". In fact, jack of all trades but master of none is not so valuable a PvP trait now, so she is more of a niche/replacement char for those who own everything. A tier she goes.
• DrakeT: S → A Despite being slightly better value compared to the rest of the clip shotguns, the practical difference is very small so she will join them.
• Ein, SBS, Red Hood b3: S → A As we keep getting better and more flexible units it becomes harder for ones that provide damage only to compete especially when its easy to counter.
• ReiT: S → A While she has a great wipe and decent self buffs which is good, she is wind making her very easy to die by the hands of Vesgod reducing her usability everywhere.
• Mana: S → A Mainly used for her revive and heals which have become more niche and less needed. Her charge time buff can be useful but its not worth running her over the options above for it.
• XBrid: A → B Decent buffer and can help apply pressure vs wind enemies early on but low Burst Gen and high feed to Jackal decrease her value.
• Mpriv, ReiA, QeQ, 2B : A → B Lots of feed and low Burst Gen makes them more awkward to place and their wipes are much easier to counter.
• Phantom, Privaty : C → B relevant screen clear/stun good enough to gain the rank up.
• A2 : A → B Her damage and Burst Gen can't keep up with the current meta.
• SDoro : A → B Single target high feed water dps which is easy to block and more options to counter single target damage have released.
• SSakura : A → B She can still hold up but being wind is just asking for death by Vesgod.
• Mast: C → B A guaranteed Crit Rate buff at start helps teams kill the enemy before bursting especially Absolute comp.
• Folkwang: C → B Her lifesteal buff and big shields can actually assist stall comps and are useful for DPSes that can do damage offburst like SwHA or Emilia.
• Flora: C→B True damage buff at the start of the fight is very useful for Absolute comp and her ability to proc Crown S2 at the start of the fight allows for an early buff that can make splash DPSes kill enemy early.
• Poli, Mmast, Sross: C → B Their buffs are good enough to actually have a use case when needed.
• Neon, Pascal: C → B When taking into account that Champion Arena needs 5 teams, they can see use for having good Burst Gen.
• Sakura: C → B A hard counter for meta wind carries like Liberalio or Nayuta.
• ToveTr: A → B Big shotgun buffs don't really help them against the single target damage hard counters we have and her buffs don't proc early enough to help them be more lethal before burst.
• Maxwell: C → B Mainly as an off-burst attack buffer, she can do well in that regard.
• Zwei, JuliaT B → C
• Ade, Marciana, helm, cocoa D → C
• Vesti, Bmilk, laplace, sw, Jill, asuka C → D