Reverse: 1999 Tier List: Ranking the Best Characters in the Game

Welcome back, Timekeepers, to this tier list for Reverse: 1999. In this tier list, I’ll be ranking characters based on their effectiveness in their respective roles. Whether you’re here to scout for someone worth building, someone who could make a great addition to your team, or just want to average a character’s abilities via several tier lists, I bid you welcome.

A Foreword

I always begin tier lists with a short foreword, so you’ll know what to expect.

Characters will be ranked with letter grades, with S being the highest and D being the lowest. The letter grades roughly correspond to the following criteria:

S-tier characters are superb. There is virtually no reason to not use them if you have them. S-tiers are shining paragons of their respective roles that their peers should aspire to.
A-tier characters are great. They’re not game-breakingly fantastic, but they’ll do a great job, nonetheless.
B-tier characters are okay. They simply suffice in their role. Not a bad pick if you don’t have anyone else, but they’re replaceable.
C-tier characters are eh. They -can- perform in their role, but whether it’s because of gimmicky kits or just not having the raw power to justify their use, it’s not difficult to find someone who can do a better job.
D-tier characters are just meh. Try to avoid them unless you’re looking for a challenge or want to punish yourself.

Characters will be sorted by role. As Reverse: 1999 doesn’t have a hard and fast “class” system like other character collector RPGs, I’ve taken the liberty of creating pseudo-roles for each arcanist, based on their cards. For hybrid characters like DPS/Support ones, I moved them to whichever role I felt was more relevant for them, though I will also comment on their sub-role. These roles will be Attacker (DPS/Burst DMG), Defender (DEF/Shield), and Support. I admit this is not a perfect system as there are a lot of hybrid characters in Reverse: 1999, so some characters may feel misplaced.

Character write-ups will assume that the character is at maximum Insight, to streamline things.

If you’d like to view character info for yourself to make better judgment calls, you can view the information of all characters via Atlas -> Role Atlas -> Bound Volume.

Finally, this Reverse: 1999 tier list is subjective. There are no end-all, be-all tier lists, and if you’re using them, I’d advise going through several of them so that you’ll have a clearer idea of what people think of a character. This tier list was made from my (and my friends’) experiences while playing the game, so yes, it does contain our own biases and may not be reflective of your own opinions.

Now, on to the tier list!

Attacker Tier List

Attackers encompass characters with the “DPS” and “Burst DMG” tags. Their role is simple – hit the enemy and drop them before they drop you.

S	Centurion, An-an Lee, Pickles, Melania
A	Regulus, Sotheby, A Knight, Lilya, Druvis III, Eternity, Charlie, Sonetto, Eagle, Pavia
B	X, Satsuki, Mondlicht, Erick, Leilani
C	Sweetheart, Matilda, Rabies
D	ONiON

S-Tier

Centurion

Hard-hitting, self-sufficient DPS whose kit revolves around Moxie.
Has innate Moxie generation, damage increases with Moxie, and using/losing Moxie.

Centurion often tops tier lists, for good reason. She’s a powerful, self-sufficient DPS that deals more damage as she gains Moxie and heals herself when uses or loses it. As Centurion thrives on gaining as much Moxie as possible to make her Victorious General hit harder, it’s wise to pair her up with a team that facilitates said Moxie gain.

An-an Lee

Stance-based hybrid DPS and support.
Upgrades her own cards for free.

An-an Lee is a stance-based character who alternates between Break Time and Exorcism Time. This gives An-an two distinct phases: Break Time, where she receives less damage, is her downtime where you can freely cast her useful Lily Nectar team buff, while Exorcism Time grants large bonuses to damage and penetration and is when you should unleash her empowered Taoist Runes and the Scientific Ghost Buster.

An-an Lee is also capable of hitting very hard when the time is right as both Exorcism Time and Scientific Ghost Buster can upgrade cards for free – the former only targets her own cards, while the latter can upgrade a random card.

Pickles

Only needs to act every other turn.
Large damage multipliers.
Level 2+ Hedonism Implement strips buffs.

Pickles is a support oriented DPS. Don’t let that term fool you: he’s more than capable of outputting great damage thanks to his high multipliers and his Clarified Topic state that kicks in if he doesn’t act. For added oomph, leveling up his Hedonism Implement incantation allows Pickles to remove positive buffs from his target.

Note that because of how Clarified Topic works, Pickles works great with AP-hungry comrades.

Melania

Ultimate-centric playstyle.
Steals Moxie from foes and gives it to herself.

Melania is the (current) undisputed queen of burst damage. When you want something not just dead, but utterly vaporized, Melania’s your go-to.

Befitting her title of master thief, Melania steals Moxie from foes and uses said Moxie to fuel her own ultimate – an incredibly powerful single-target burst that gets stronger each time it’s used thanks to her Insight passives.

As it stands, Melania is more suited for late game content (there’s not much point exploding enemies for 6 digit damage if you’re just fighting trash mobs) though her Moxie-stealing mechanic can allow her to see some use – though be mindful that you must trigger her ultimate to give her Thief Master stacks.

A-Tier

Regulus

Easy-to-use DPS who incentivizes skipping turns via her Restless Heart status.
Skipping turns means Regulus fits easily with AP-hungry teammates.
Restless Heart massively boosts crit and potentially gives Regulus massive amounts of crit damage.
Has some support utility as her crits can drain Moxie and ultimate shields allies.

Regulus features prominently in Reverse: 1999’s early chapters, and it’s hard to dislike her. When you actually do get her as a playable unit, you’ll find that Vertin made a good choice – Regulus has a simple yet effective kit: Treat for the Ears deals immense damage at max level, Challenge for the Eyes is a simple party nuke with Moxie drain, and Sleepless Rave is a decent nuke that also shields allies from non-ultimates.

With Regulus, you’ll need to get into a rhythm of skipping her turns once you’ve unlocked her first Insight. Effective use of Regulus means maximizing her Restless Heart passive that kicks in if she hasn’t acted in the previous round. It’s well worth it, though, as it gives Regulus a massive 50% crit rate increase AND converts excess crit rate into crit damage. This pattern also means that Regulus works well in teams with AP-hungry teammates – she’ll happily pass her AP to them this turn to prep for her next.

Sotheby

Atrocious in the early game, but offers great returns when invested in.
Poison stacks.

Sotheby was hard to put on this list. You wouldn’t be wrong if you took a look at her Incantations and were underwhelmed – that’s the exact same reaction I had too. Sotheby suffers terribly in the early game as her poison damage is woefully low and her heals pop at the end of the round, meaning that they’re less impactful and the character she’s supposed to heal might even die before they get healed. This means that it’s wise to build her ultimate as quickly as possible and pop it for a burst heal and damage effect.

On the other hand, Sotheby’s effectiveness rapidly ramps up with her Insight levels. One extra turn for poison may not seem like much at Insight 1, but it turns even a level 1 Triple the Dose! into a persistent threat – and remember that Sotheby’s poison stacks with itself. Insight 3, on the other hand, alleviates her healing problems as it procs the current cure status when she casts Concentrated Essence!. Once properly built, Sotheby becomes an incredibly potent hybrid DPS/Healer with the ability to cause and pop large stacks of Genesis damage as well as offer healing over time AND burst heals.

A Knight

Requires killing blows to maximize his effectiveness.
Generates Moxie for self and greatly bolsters ally damage with ultimate.

A Knight is a good all-around DPS if you’re looking for someone to rally your troops and spur them to greater heights. A Knight’s skills greatly incentivize allowing him to land killing blows; Justice grants him up to 3 Moxie if it kills an enemy, while his ultimate After AD 778 grants A Knight and his allies a stack of Rousing Morale, which in turn causes the next hit to deal a very respectable 50% extra damage. If you don’t want to feed him kills, Glory will do just as well as it’s automatic Moxie generation at level 2 and above.

Lilya

Reliant on crits to maximize her toolkit.
Takes a little longer than either starter 6* to come online.

Lilya, along with Regulus and Eternity, is 1 of 3 starter 6* characters that you’re guaranteed to get. Compared to her peers, Lilya is less plug-and-play than either of them as she’s heavily reliant on crit procs to reach her full potential. Once you get her online though (Psychubes, Insight levels especially Insight 3, Resonance) and get her crit rate to acceptable levels, Lilya becomes a very simple character to use – let her loose and watch your foes drop!

Druvis III

Excels at shutting down key targets with her Petrifying attacks.
Remember that Reality damage breaks Petrify, so use her with a Mental team.
Decent damage but not enough to qualify as the main damage dealer unless you like a slugfest.

Druvis is a strange mix of DPS and offensive support. Remember how annoying her Petrify status was when you fought her (or not her, I wasn’t paying attention)? Now you can inflict that same misery on your foes, and thankfully, it’s just as effective when you’re the one using it. Not so funny now, eh?

Despite her access to two sources of Petrify, care must still be taken with Druvis. Remember that taking Reality damage breaks Petrify so either have her cast last (and avoid using Reality attacks on petrified foes) or put her in a pure Mental team. Druvis also has rather lackluster multipliers on her incantations, so she may not be the best choice in a DPS race.

Eternity

Straightforward DPS with HP-consuming effects.
Gets stronger the longer a fight goes on.
Hard to put down despite HP loss thanks to her 50% life steal ultimate and status immunity.

If unga bunga is your approach to the game, Eternity’s kit is right up your alley. Her kit is simple, but effective, though you’ll want to get her to Insight 1 as soon as possible to not only grant her blanket immunity to Bleed, Corrode, and Poison, but also gives her a stacking 3% damage dealt and 3% damage healed (heals back X% of damage taken) buff.

Despite her Incantations taking out some of her HP, Eternity is remarkably hard to put down thanks to Anecdotes in Exeter having 50% life steal. Eternity can work well as either a solo (yes, that’s a thing) character or in a team dedicated to boosting her damage output so she can ravage the frontlines with her self-damaging attacks then taking back the health with her ultimate.

Charlie

Insight passives grant her flexible buffs depending on her HP level.
Damage scales hard with Portray levels.

Charlie is a simple, but effective damage dealer. She’s a very plug-and-play character who gains bonuses based on many situations – Thunder to Thee! deals more damage if she has increased stats, Tempest to Thee! hits a LOT harder if Charlie is under 50% health, and I Stand Alone On The Stage just plain hits hard and strips buffs.

Of special note are Charlie’s Insights and Portray levels. Insight levels 1 and 3 provide Charlie with flexible buffs depending on whether she’s on the greater or lower half of her health – more than 50% gives her a 20% damage boost, while below 50% gives her 20% incoming damage reduction and 20% critical defense.

Her Portray levels, on the other hand, are straight-up, non-nonsense upgrades to her damage; of special note are levels 2 and 3 which increase the base damage of Thunder to Thee! and change the HP threshold of Tempest to Thee! to 80% or lower health, allowing Charlie to both deal that nice bit of extra damage AND get her Insight 3 passive, respectively.

Sonetto

Free character that boasts great overall performance.
Easy to use, easy to build, and you get copies of her for free.

New players, rejoice – Sonetto is a perfectly viable character that you’re guaranteed to get who offers great, if not excellent performance throughout the game. While powerful, Sonetto is easy to use and packs quite a punch, if a little unspecialized (although you could make the argument that that makes her easier to slot into any team).

The best part is that you get Artifices of Sonetto as part of your newbie quests, making her much more powerful. If you can get a decent Reality support (cough Bkornblume cough), Sonetto can carry your team.

Sonetto’s incantations have good multipliers but do note that level 2+ Commandment V also inflicts the Disarmed status, which allows Sonetto to buy you some time and gives her some function as a control unit.

Eagle

Hits surprisingly hard.
Easy to build thanks to her low rarity though this also stymies her late game progress.

You get Eagle for free just by clearing stages, and if you haven’t built her yet, you’re in for a pleasant treat. Despite only being a 4*, Eagle hits incredibly hard thanks to her plethora of bonus effects, such as more penetration as well as bonus crit + excess crit rate to crit damage + life steal on Between Superficiality and Reality. Both of Eagle’s Insight levels also grant sizeable bonuses, with the first one allowing her to mark tough foes for a faster takedown as well as a respectable 15% crit damage.

With all that said, bear in mind that Eagle is still a 4* character. While she works great in the early game and boasts good performance even into the later game, she will fall off due to her low rarity, which gives her less stats and Insight levels to work with. Luckily, you can reset her once via beginner quests when her service is done, yeah?

Pavia

Wide array of mass attacks.
Adaptable playstyle based on his current health.
Ultimate makes him self-sustaining.
Works great with teammates that sacrifice themselves like Nick Bottom or Door.

Pavia is a simple but effective character. Both his Dirty Thing and Poor Sod incantations are party-hitting Mental attacks that have varying strength based on Pavia’s health – just pick whichever one fits his current HP state. Nosier Than Me is Pavia’s trump card, and not only deals great single-target Mental damage but also causes Pavia to heal for 25% of his missing health for 3 rounds, which gives him fantastic self-sustain.

If you’re going to build Pavia, note that he works best in teams that sacrifice themselves (via characters like Nick Bottom or Door) as his Insight 1 gives him buffs every time an ally dies. You might also want to gun for Portray level 3 as levels 2 and 3 improve the damage of his non-ultimate incantations which you’ll likely be spamming.

B-Tier

Lower-rarity dispel-type DPS.
Dispelling buffs and counters also adds Silence stacks.

If you didn’t pull Pickles, X will suffice in a pinch. Like Pickles, X has access to dispels at level 2+ incantations and can actually get more mileage out of them as he can inflict Silence on dispel at Insight 1. Apart from that though, there’s nothing remarkable about X – his kit doesn’t offer much in terms of raw strength unlike Pickles who has those beefy boosts from his passive.

Satsuki

Delayed petrification.
Pretty much designed to work with Druvis III in mind.

If you read Satsuki’s kit, you’ll notice that she has both the Rigidity and Petrify debuffs to work with, which pretty much means she’s made with Druvis III in mind. While Satsuki’s attacks are admittedly quite beefy, her real value lies in extending the duration of Petrify or causing it by accumulating her Rigidity stacks. This allows you to control foes at your leisure, though I should once again remind you that as with Druvis, you’ll want a pure Mental team if you’re going to pursue that strategy. Thankfully, Satsuki does do Mental damage.

Do note that Handcuffed Thief requires level 2+ to inflict Rigidity.

Mondlicht

Big damage despite being a 4*.
Has some self-sustain with her ultimate.

Like Eagle, Mondlicht is another 4* arcanist that deals shockingly huge amounts of damage despite her rarity. Mondlicht is very straightforward to use: just pick between A Dance or A Silver Bullet depending on how much health the enemy has left, and use More Deadly than the Big Bad Wolves if you need big damage right now (which also heals her). Mondlicht’s Silver Bullet stacks also shred her target’s Reality DEF by 20% for 3 rounds, though she’ll need to be at Insight 1 to access this move.

Erick

Decent damage dealer that enables crit-based teams.
Ultimate packs a buff dispeller and disarm.

Erick is another of those simple but effective characters I like. About the only frills on Erick are her level 2+ Heavy Axe incantations which pave the way for crit-based characters like Lilya or even Regulus, and her Glory to the Jarl ultimate which not only deals a big chunk of damage but also dispels Stats Up, Pos Status, and Counter and inflicts a 1 round Disarm. Definitely not the best, but she won’t disappoint either.

Leilani

Decent damage dealer.
More powerful as a support as she gives free Moxie with both her Insight 1 and ultimate.

Leilani is a free character that meshes very well with your newbie team of Sonetto, APPLe, and Eagle. Thanks to Sonetto’s buffs and debuffs, Leilani is capable of doing some decent damage in the early game, but she’ll fall off later due to her 3* rarity bogging down her numbers.

Where Leilani really shines is as an enabler for others. Her Insight 1 passive gives both her and her allies 1 Moxie when entering battle, and Hawaiian Archery is a respectable nuke that also gives Leilani’s allies 2 Moxie. This gives Leilani a unique and important role as a Moxie battery.

C-Tier

Sweetheart

Deals more damage to enemies under debuffs.
Passively debuffs opposite sex enemies when attacked.

It’s not that Sweetheart is bad, it’s just…there are so many better things we could be doing with her slot on the team. Yes, she does more damage when an enemy is debuffed (and she does have access to debuffs herself but only on enemies of the opposite sex), but honestly? It’s too little payoff for too much setup. I’d rather just put someone like Eternity on the team and support her with Bkornblume. You’d need to run a support for Sweetheart anyway, just to make her more reliable.

Matilda

Has lots of crit rate boosts and that’s about it.

Again, not a bad character, just a disappointing one. Matilda has a lot of crit rate gain via her Insights and Portray levels, but unlike Lilya, she never really capitalizes on this almost-guaranteed crit (and not to mention that Lilya is easier to build thanks to her Insight 3 giving her double crit on her Psychube). She’s…free, I guess? That’s a good thing?

Rabies

Easy to use kit but lacking in any real oomph.

Rabies just kinda exists. He’s easy to pick up and play and works good in teams that have debuffs (though Field Roar also gets bonus damage if enemies are above a certain HP threshold). Unlike fellow 4* Attackers Eagle and Mondlicht though, Rabies just doesn’t have enough to justify using him beyond the early game.

Eagle does high damage on her own, converts excess crit rate to crit damage with her ultimate, and marks the strongest enemy with her Insight 1, while Mondlicht’s Silver Bullet stacks allow her to lead the charge and pave the way for her stronger allies. Rabies…poisons enemies. And it’s not the good, mass kind of poison that Sotheby has. It’s hard to even recommend Rabies as you get Eagle for free.

D-Tier

ONiON

3* damage dealer.

Yup. That’s all you need to know. 3* means that ONiON will be left in the dust in the late game thanks to lower stats and less Insight passives to work with, her kit offers nothing outside of raw damage, and don’t say “her ultimate gives Sturdiness” because there are characters who can toss out Sturdiness every turn. 3* characters have to work especially hard to fill specialist niches, and ONiON…does not.

Defender Tier List

Defenders encompass the “DEF” and “Shield” tags. This list can also include characters who have more defensive utility rather than offensive or supportive, depending on their kits.

S	Balloon Party, Tennant
A	Click, Cristallo
B	Ms. NewBabel, Oliver Fog, The Fool
C	Poltergeist
D	Ms. Moissan, Mesmer Jr., aliEn T, Sputnik