Cover composed from official Animaster artwork; the T0 and T1 labels are the Chinese creator ranking discussed in the article.
Checked October 17, 2026. Search for a Honkai: Nexus Anima character tier list in English and you get Anima tier lists. The Animasters, the playable characters who lead a board, have no English ranking at all, even though the characters section is the most-searched part of this site. Chinese test players have published rankings, but they use the Chinese character names, and a few of those do not sound anything like the official English ones. 不死岳, for example, is Olympia.
Updated November 10, 2026: Aspect counts now follow the official Aspect data, which moved Chowpownd, Cumulon and Hoppelon to other Aspects. The Animaster ranking order is unchanged.
The table below translates the main Chinese ranking for 13 characters and gives each one’s official English name. The Chinese creators ranked inside a client where all 84 Anima had kits. Our English Tier List ranks 65 of them S to C, and that gap changes which top-tier character is worth building first, so the second half of this page looks at each character’s Aspect against the Anima we can currently rank.
How this was assessed. The tier split is a creator report: the description of 小铭同学qaQ233’s ranking video of July 22, 2026, which lists T0 to T3 in text. The short reasons in the table come from three places, and each row says which: that video description, a July 21, 2026 strength write-up on the Chinese download site PP助手 (a secondary source, not official), and the role text on our own character pages. Where none of them gives a reason, the table says so.
The name mapping is our own work, matching each character’s role and faction text against our character pages. 美宝 is the one mapping we could only infer. The Aspect-depth section is editorial theorycraft built on our Anima Database counts. We did not take part in the test.
The Honkai Nexus Anima character tier list: 13 Animasters
The roster has 22 Animasters. The July 22 ranking covers the 13 that were playable and rated during the Evolution Test.
| Tier | Official English name | Chinese test name | Why it ranks there (source) |
|---|---|---|---|
| T0 | Bai Mei | 白梅 | Crowd-control Novarch of Reality (our page); centre of a “permafreeze” lineup posted as clearing every Abyss floor with four limited units (托帕总监_love video title) |
| T0 | Herocrates | 希罗拉底 | Strongest single-target damage boost, expensive to raise and slow to pay off (PP助手) |
| T0 | Parayaya | 帕拉雅雅 | Long group crowd control; needs a 5-star Hate Anima to fully activate (PP助手) |
| T0 | Blade | 刃 | Early-game clearing and single-5-star runs (video description); top single-target damage (PP助手) |
| T1 | Olympia | 不死岳 | Wide-area damage that grows with Dark-aligned Anima (PP助手, which rates it T0) |
| T1 | Hungrille | 亨格丽 | Team-wide lifesteal (PP助手); appears slightly more than Blade in late, all-5-star play (video description) |
| T1 | Kiana | 琪亚娜 | 4-star healer and summoner (our page); no reason given in the ranking |
| T1 | Otto | 奥托 | No reason given; researcher and inventor on our page |
| T2 | Shilian | 拾怜 | No reason given; Planar Geography teacher on our page |
| T2 | Nanafey | 娜娜巫 | No reason given; 4-star support and protector on our page |
| T3 | Hua | 小华 | No reason given; young Animaster from Iia on our page |
| T3 | Maple Manybell (inferred) | 美宝 | No reason given in the ranking |
| T3 | Breadhead | 面包头 | No reason given; 5-star battlefield disruptor on our page |
The two sources mostly agree. PP助手’s T0 has five names: Blade, Parayaya and Herocrates, which the video also puts in T0, plus Olympia (不死岳) and Hungrille, which the video puts in T1. PP助手 does not list Bai Mei at all.
How the names were matched
Chinese rankings use the simplified-Chinese names from the Chinese client. Where a name is phonetic, the match is obvious. Where it is not, we matched role and faction text against the full Animaster list.
- 白梅 is Bai Mei, a transliteration. She is the Novarch of Reality.
- 希罗拉底 is Herocrates, by sound. He is the Nexus Association’s Professor.
- 帕拉雅雅 is Parayaya, by sound, the Novarch of Hate.
- 刃 is Blade, a literal translation, and the Honkai: Star Rail crossover character.
- 不死岳 is Olympia, and the name gives no hint of it. A Chinese write-up describes 不死岳 as the Acting Director of the True Nexus Syndicate’s Iia branch, which is Olympia’s exact position on our character page. The same write-up refers to 不死岳 as “he,” while the English page describes Olympia as a woman, so the localisation seems to have changed more than the name. We treat the matching job title as decisive.
- 亨格丽 is Hungrille, by sound, the Novarch of Satiation.
- 琪亚娜 and 奥托 are Kiana and Otto, the names the Honkai series has always used for them in Chinese.
- 拾怜 is Shilian, a pinyin match. She teaches Planar Geography at Montemar Academy.
- 娜娜巫 is Nanafey, by sound, the Montemar student who hosts you in Iia.
- 小华 is Hua, with the diminutive 小 dropped.
- 美宝 is probably Maple Manybell, but this one is inferred. There is no phonetic link. A low-quality Chinese download page describes 美宝 as a healer, and Maple Manybell is a young Deputy Arena Master on our page. No official bilingual list confirms it.
- 面包头 is Breadhead, literally “bread head.”
T0: what the four have in common
Three of the four T0 Animasters are Novarchs, and the fourth, Herocrates, is the Professor. Each has a kit that a board can be built around. Bai Mei and Parayaya lock enemies down, Herocrates makes one carry stronger, and Blade is the carry.
Both sources put Blade at the top. The July 22 description says his early clearing and single-5-star runs, where you clear challenge content with one 5-star unit, are still unmatched, and adds that Hungrille appears a little more often than him once a roster is all 5-stars. For an English player, Blade is the pick that does not depend on your Anima luck.
Bai Mei’s T0 traces to a specific lineup. On July 13, 托帕总监_love posted a “permafreeze” board built around her, titled as clearing every Abyss floor with four limited units. Her kit is control, so she still needs a carry to finish fights; that lineup shows what she does with a deep roster.
Parayaya depends on one Anima. PP助手 says her ultimate needs a 5-star Hate Anima to fully activate, which puts her value later in the game than at the start. Our database has exactly one 5-star Hate Anima, Mesmerith, and it is one of the Level 18 milestone picks. If you take Mesmerith, Parayaya has what she needs.
PP助手 calls Herocrates the strongest single-target damage booster and, in the same paragraph, slow to pay off and costly to raise. He suits a player who already owns a carry worth boosting, and is a poor first character.
T1: Hungrille, Olympia, Kiana, Otto
Hungrille’s line in the video description is the most useful one in the ranking: in late, all-5-star play she shows up slightly more often than Blade. PP助手 credits her team-wide lifesteal. Our reading is that once every slot already deals real damage, survival becomes the limit, and lifesteal addresses that. She is also the Novarch of Satiation, which has six ranked Anima in our database. Only Puddlipup is above C tier, and the one 5-star, Hamburgoof, is C tier, so a three-unit Aspect count is reachable today but leans on C-tier units.
PP助手 describes Olympia (不死岳) as wide-area damage that is already strong alone and spikes alongside Dark-aligned Anima, and rates it T0, a tier higher than the video. Dark is the deepest quality cluster in our database: Felinoxie, Lumeridon, Noctumbra and Vixemourne at B tier, plus the 5-star Waxula. An Olympia-led Dark board is the one T1 board an English player can fill without a C-tier unit.
Kiana is listed as a 4-star healer and summoner on our page, and the ranking puts her alongside 5-star Novarchs in T1. It gives no reason for Kiana or for Otto, and we do not have one to add.
T2 and T3
The July 22 description lists Shilian and Nanafey in T2, and Hua, Maple Manybell and Breadhead in T3, without reasons. Our character pages show Shilian, Nanafey, Hua and Maple Manybell in story roles around Montemar Academy and Iia, and Breadhead as a 5-star battlefield disruptor. That is too little to explain the placements, so we leave them as reported. Use these characters while the story hands them to you, but put upgrade materials into the T0 and T1 picks first.
Aspect depth: the part the rankings leave out
Chinese creators ranked inside a client where all 84 Anima had kits. Our English Tier List ranks 65 Anima S to C. Petrilog is marked TBD, and the 18 Evolution Test additions are still waiting on skills. That changes the practical order of the T0 and T1 characters.
| Animaster | Aspect | Ranked Anima of that Aspect | 5-star in the Aspect | Board readiness today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungrille | Satiation | 6 (1 above C tier) | Hamburgoof | Reaches a three-count with two C-tier units |
| Olympia | Dark-leaning | 7 (5 at B tier or better) | Waxula | Full board with nothing below B |
| Parayaya | Hate | 5 (2 above C tier) | Mesmerith | Reaches a three-count with one C-tier unit |
| Blade | Strength | 5 (2 above C tier) | Bladehound, Cumulon | Reaches a three-count with one C-tier unit |
| Bai Mei | Reality | 2 | Hoppelon | No three-count yet; waits on the five Reality Anima from the Evolution Test |
Going by that table, an English player should still start with Blade or Hungrille. Blade now has two top-ranked Strength options in Bladehound and Cumulon, while Hungrille’s Satiation count remains reachable but leans on C-tier units. Add Parayaya once Mesmerith is on the roster, and pick Olympia for a Dark board. Bai Mei is a long-term candidate: her crowd control is what earned her T0 in the Chinese client, and how well that carries over depends on what the five Reality Anima can do once their kits are published. Five of the 18 pending Anima are Reality (Seroplumanth, Sharkalaka, Broomba, Shampoco and Baggle), and they are tracked in the Evolution Test roundup.
Which Animaster first
- Blade, if you want a character that does not depend on your Anima luck.
- Hungrille, if you already have a damage carry and want the pick that holds up late. Her Satiation count is reachable, but mostly with C-tier units.
- Parayaya, after Mesmerith. Without a 5-star Hate Anima her ultimate does not reach full value.
- Olympia, if you are building Dark, since that cluster is already there.
- Bai Mei, once the Reality Anima get confirmed kits. Until then she is a strong control character with a two-Anima Aspect (Hoppelon and Mimoo).
- Herocrates, as a second or third character, once there is a carry worth boosting.
What would change this ranking
A global balance pass would. Every tier above comes from a closed test client, global kits can differ, and the creators treat their lists as snapshots.
Confirmed kits for the 18 pending Anima would matter most for Bai Mei, since five of them are Reality and could give her an Aspect board to lead.
An official bilingual name list would settle the 美宝 mapping, which is inferred.
A ranking from another Chinese community would help too. The video ranking took part in the Evolution Test creator incentive programme, and PP助手 is a download site; a list from TapTap or NGA would be a useful cross-check we have not done yet.
Sources
- 小铭同学qaQ233, “【崩坏因缘精灵】角色强度梯度排行——进化测试”, Bilibili, published July 22, 2026. BV1xFgr6DEaV. The T0 to T3 split and the Blade and Hungrille notes come from the video description.
- PP助手, “崩坏因缘精灵T0强度排行 崩坏因缘精灵最强角色推荐”, published July 21, 2026. wap.pp.cn/news/1279998.html. Source of the short reasons for Blade, Olympia (不死岳), Parayaya, Hungrille and Herocrates. A download-site article, not an official source.
- PP助手, “崩坏因缘精灵不死岳强度分析”, published July 6, 2026. wap.pp.cn/news/1243977.html. Source of 不死岳’s job title, used for the Olympia match.
- 托帕总监_love, “【因缘精灵】版本答案！白梅最强永冻队-4限定通解所有深渊！”, Bilibili, published July 13, 2026. BV1ndNy63EGF. Source of the Bai Mei Abyss claim, from the title.
- 绝不是dd, “崩坏因缘精灵二测角色（心象）强度榜速览”, Bilibili, published July 9, 2026. BV1dpMJ6qEyv. An earlier ranking we found but could only confirm by title and date, so no tier here relies on it.
- Character roles and rarities: our character pages, checked October 17, 2026.
- Anima counts and tiers: Anima Database and Anima Tier List, October 17, 2026, updated November 10, 2026. How Aspect and Trait data are sourced: Official Sources: Anima data.