Neverness to Everness hands out a surprising number of playable units before you ever touch the gacha board. The launch lineup includes the protagonist, four A-rank units obtainable through story and events, and two S-rank characters you can earn through systems-based progression rather than pulls.
Free character roster at a glance
| Character | Rank | Element | How to obtain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero (Esper Zero / Appraiser) | S | Cosmos | Granted automatically at game start |
| Mint | A | Anima | Main story, joins after the prologue |
| Adler | A | Incantation | Main story, around the Eibon Antique Shop |
| Haniel | A | Psyche | Tutorial gacha pull, pre-registration milestone, and Fracture Circle floor 10 |
| Aurelia | A | Psyche | Day 3 of the launch login event |
| Chiz | S | Cosmos | City Tycoon level 18, with dupes at higher levels |
| Standard banner selector | S | Varies | Pick one after 50 pulls on the standard banner |
Zero, the S-rank protagonist
Zero, also referred to as Esper Zero or the Appraiser, is the main character and unlocks the moment you start a save file. You choose a male or female version during creation and can swap between them later from the menu, though the toggle has a 24-hour cooldown.
Zero is a Cosmos-element all-rounder with a wide-area skill and a high-damage ultimate that charges quickly. Whether to invest heavily depends on which limited banner character you plan to chase at launch.
Mint and Adler from the main story
Mint joins right after the prologue and is the first free unit you add to your roster. She's an A-rank Anima DPS with strong area damage on her ultimate, and she pairs naturally with Zero through the Esper Cycle system.
Adler arrives roughly 30 minutes into the campaign, around the Eibon Antique Shop sequence. He's an A-rank Incantation single-target DPS whose ultimate scales up against lone bosses, and he combos with Mint to apply the Hexed debuff for extra damage on recently hit enemies.
Haniel through three different paths
Haniel is an A-rank Psyche support who can be acquired up to three times for free. The first copy comes from the tutorial pull when the gacha system unlocks. The second is delivered as part of the pre-registration milestone reward once the campaign hits its threshold, arriving via the in-game inbox. A third copy drops from clearing floor 10 of the Fracture Circle inside Beyond the Rails.
Three copies push her to her second Awakening, which meaningfully increases the team-wide attack buff she provides. She doesn't share an Esper Cycle with Zero, Mint, or Adler, so she pairs better once you add a Lakshana or Chaos unit.
Aurelia from the launch login event
Aurelia is an A-rank Psyche sub-DPS available through the global launch login campaign. Logging in three times during the event window unlocks her on day three of the rotation. Her ultimate groups enemies together while a Jellyfish companion deals follow-up damage in the background.
Chiz and the City Tycoon route
Chiz is the second S-rank you can earn without pulling, but she's locked behind the City Tycoon side system rather than the story. The first copy unlocks at Tycoon level 18, and continuing to raise that level distributes the rest of her Awakening shards along with copies of her signature weapon. Reaching the cap delivers a fully maxed S-rank unit, including all six Awakening shards and five weapon copies.
Mechanically, Chiz is a Cosmos DPS built around the Grain Market, a fluctuating resource similar to a stock market. Her damage spikes when Grain is high, so the gameplay loop revolves around stockpiling during low periods and unloading charged attacks at the peak. At Awakening 6, she also shreds 10% Cosmos resistance from enemies.
The standard banner selector
After completing 50 pulls on the standard banner, you can pick one S-rank from a fixed selector pool. The choices are:
- Sakiri
- Baicang
- Hathor
- Fadia
- Daffodil
- Jiuyuan
This is effectively a guaranteed S-rank on top of everything else, so factor it into your team plan. Daffodil stands as a top-tier Chaos DPS specializing in single-target and break damage, Sakiri offers a straightforward S-rank support buff, and Jiuyuan provides strong AoE grouping as a sub-DPS, depending on what your story team is missing.
Element coverage and team building
The free roster naturally covers four of the game's elements out of the box. Zero and Chiz handle Cosmos, Mint covers Anima, Adler brings Incantation, and Haniel plus Aurelia fill the Psyche slots. Esper Cycles trigger when paired elements are on the same team, and the early story trio of Zero, Mint, and Adler is built to chain those reactions immediately.
Haniel's Psyche element doesn't cycle with the starter trio, so she works best as a buffer parked in a secondary team or once you pull a Lakshana or Chaos partner. Aurelia slots into similar Psyche-focused compositions.
Global launch lands on April 29, 2026, so the practical order is straightforward. Clear the prologue for Zero, Mint, and Adler, complete the gacha tutorial for Haniel, log in across the launch event for Aurelia, and chip away at City Tycoon for Chiz while saving up to 50 standard pulls for the selector pick. Information based on beta testing may shift slightly at launch, particularly around event timing and Tycoon level requirements.