Stella Sora character tier list [1.0]

In Stella Sora – the latest gacha RPG to somehow carve a niche for itself in one of gaming’s most popular current genres – you take on the role of the Tyrant, who’s allegedly much more chill than they sound. Waking up from a centuries-long slumber to find the world overtaken by Monoliths, the Tyrant teams up with exploratory teams of Trekkers to try to work out just what the heck is going on.

Despite what you might be thinking, Trekkers aren’t devotees of a certain sci-fi franchise – although they are, curiously, united in the unlikely fact of all belonging to the “cute young anime women” demographic. You’d think at least some guys would want to be Trekkers too, but if they are, the Tyrant clearly isn’t into it.

Trekkers all fall into one of three combat class roles: Vanguards who are always best suited to DPS; Supports who are always better at performing off-field buffs; and Versatiles who can do a little of both. Each time you engage in combat in Stella Sora, you’ll directly control one character as your DPS, with their two other team members providing off-field support. Naturally there’s also an elemental system at play, with characters variously specialising in Ignis (fire), Aqua (water), Terra (earth), Ventus (wind), Lux (light), and Umbra (lightning).

The best teams in Stella Sora match units with a single element but different combat specialisms, with the meta right now heavily focussed on characters who can fit into those teams most optimally. Read on for our Stella Sora 1.0 tier list for ideas on who to pull for and build now that the game’s out.

Stella Sora 1.0 tier list

SS Tier	Chitose, Gerie, Minova, Nazuna
S Tier	Shia, Nanoha, Chixia, Ridge
A Tier	Freesia, Mistique, Ann, Flora, Tilia
B Tier	Cosette, Amber, Canace, Coronis, Jinglin, Teresa
C Tier	Caramel, Laru, Noya, Shimiao, Iris, Kasimira

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SS Tier

Stella Sora is a gacha game so, naturally, the top-tier units are all premium 5-Star rarity characters. Unless you intend on spending a lot of money on this game (which we never recommend), you’re unlikely to quickly assemble a whole team made up of just these few exceptional ladies. However, your odds of rolling one of them soon after starting are rather better, so it can be a good idea to think about building a team around those you do have.

Chitose and Gerie are currently the best DPS characters in the meta, so you’re in luck if you manage to pull either of them early on. Both are Vanguard class units, meaning that they’re best suited to taking on the main on-field role in your three-woman team. Their elemental alignments are Aqua and Terra, respectively, so they’re by far the best choices to build an elemental specialist team around. Chitose was the featured character on the game’s first limited-time banner, but luckily Gerie is permanently recruitable.

Minova, meanwhile, is a Versatile unit who can function equally well as either DPS or support. Given that she’s the only Lux elemental character in our SS Tier, you’ll definitely want to consider giving her the starring role in any team composed around that element – although given her aforementioned versatility, this is a role that can also suit Shia (see below) with Minova in support.

Finally, Nazuna is our top-rated Support character in Stella Sora’s launch line-up. While you’ll rarely if ever want to give her the on-field role, she’s an ideal support unit for Gerie given that they’re both Terra elemental characters. The downside here is that there are only three Terra units in the game right now, which really limits your options; but two out of three sitting right at the top of the meta is a massive bonus.

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S Tier

Our S-Tier picks in Stella Sora aren’t quite as all-powerful as those in the tier above, but make no mistake: these are still easily among the best characters in the game. Once again, these are mostly premium 5-Star characters, although this is the tier where you’ll also find the very best 4-Star units in the game.

In fact, let’s start with Ridge, a Terra Versatile character who’s our top-rated 4-Star from across the entire Stella Sora launch roster. Paired up with Nazuna to support Gerie, Ridge forms one-third of the most powerful team-up in the game at launch, which certainly doesn’t hurt her high standing on this list. If you don’t have Gerie yet, she can also take on the DPS role for a Terra-focussed team with support from Nazuna and another unit.

Next up is Shia, the second 5-Star character to be featured on one of Stella Sora’s limited-time exclusive banners. A Lux Vanguard character, she’s ideal to pair with our SS Tier pick Minova – and, if you’re fortunate enough to have both, should be given the on-field DPS role she’s best suited to, so that Minova can shine in support.

Nanoha is the strongest Ventus element character in the game at launch and a DPS-worthy Vanguard to boot, while Chixia can fulfil either a DPS or support role on an Ignis team thanks to her Versatile role. Both are 5-Star characters available on the standard banner, and if you manage to pull either of them early on, it’s worth assembling an elemental team that puts them to their best use.

A Tier

The A-Tier is where 5-Stars and 4-Stars mingle most freely: it’s where you’ll find some of the best linchpins for F2P-friendly team compositions, alongside premium characters who perhaps haven’t found their strength in the meta yet.

Examples of the latter type are Freesia, whose robustness as an Aqua Versatile unit is hampered by the only other Aqua characters in the game being either on the weaker side or exclusive to limited banners; and Mistique, another Versatile role who suffers from the fact that she’s the only premium unit with the Umbra element at the time of writing. Both are powerful characters, as you’d expect from their 5-Star rarity; but the difficulty of assembling a team that gets the most out of their kits holds them back from the higher tiers for now.

Meanwhile, Ann (Ventus), Flora (Ignis), and Tilia (Lux) – all 4-Star units – are all powerful enough (and uncontested enough in the current line-up) to be basically essential Support units for their respective elemental team compositions. Importantly, though, if you’re missing a Support in another elemental team, Ann is generally agreed to be the best and most flexible support choice to plug that gap in your line-up until you’re able to sub in a support of the appropriate element.

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B Tier

Common wisdom in gacha games is that, by their nature, 4-Star units have to work very, very hard to rise above the B-Tier – which is why it’s something of a personal mantra for me that B-Tier is not bad. An F2P player ought to be able to complete all activities in a well-balanced gacha game mostly using properly built B-Tier 4-Star units, so if you don’t intend to spend money on your pulls, this is where you should be looking to recruit from to build teams around your occasional lucky 5-Stars.

To that end we have Amber, who currently stands out as the essential Vanguard for an Ignis team composition – admittedly due to lack of competition in that area, but nevertheless, if you have Chixia and Flora in support then she can be a very powerful DPS.

If you’re in the mood to stick two fingers up at the meta and build an Umbra team regardless of that element’s current underpowered nature, then Cosette is going to be an essential character. Dedicated Support characters tend to fare better than the other class roles in non-optimised team comps anyway – and of course, if you build Cosette now, then you’ll be ahead of the curve when the inevitable Umbra 5-Star banner makes its debut.

If you need any proof as to the validity of that last statement, just look at Teresa, an Aqua Support unit who’s already found her calling in teams built around Chitose. Of course, given that building a highly efficient Aqua team right now requires either luck or good planning when it comes to having pulled Chitose from the game’s first exclusive banner, Teresa’s utility is somewhat limited outside of that specific scenario – but since there truly are no bad choices of Support units in Stella Sora, she’s a solid B-Tier pick regardless.

Jinglin is one of the few 4-Stars at launch who already has a direct 5-Star counterpart, sharing both her Lux element and Versatile role with Minova. This naturally suppresses her desirability somewhat; but on the other hand, it does also make her a viable alternative to Minova in the meantime, especially if you’d rather pool your currencies to ensure a Vanguard in the form of exclusive-banner character Shia to centre your Lux team around.

Finally in this tier we have Coronis (Umbra) and Canace (Ventus). These two Versatile units perhaps aren’t going to set the world on fire on their own merits, but nevertheless slot gracefully into the final position on teams focussed around their respective elements to great effect; and can serve as DPS when called upon to do so if you haven’t managed to pull said element’s 5-Star Vanguard unit yet.

C Tier

The C-Tier of a gacha game tier list is often populated with starting characters: units you’re given for free at the very beginning of the story, and who you will likely want to swap out for someone more powerful as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

However, this also means that C-Tier characters, somewhat counter-intuitively, often have the most plot-relevance, as they’re the ones who’ll be there with the player as a recognisable face throughout much of the story. The point being that a C-Tier ranking doesn’t mean that your favourite character sucks. Indeed they are totally valid as heart-picks, lore faves, and even perfectly serviceable combat companions if you so choose; it’s just the nature of gacha that they’re kept relatively underpowered to encourage you to spend on flashier units.

Unsurprisingly, any 4-Star Vanguard character who’s already been superseded by a 5-Star equivalent finds themselves in the C-Tier. Shimiao (Aqua), Laru (Lux), and Noya (Ventus) all find themselves in this unenviable position – although Shimiao might be on her way to a small redemption on practical grounds, as the only direct alternative to Chitose once her limited banner time has passed.

Iris is another character who has a direct 5-Star equivalent, although this is slightly less disastrous since she doesn’t fulfil a DPS role. Freesia is also an Aqua Versatile unit though, and therefore Iris quickly becomes redundant on most Aqua teams – especially since Shimiao already exists as a viable alternative Vanguard DPS for players who didn’t manage to pull Chitose. Much the same can be said for Kasimira, whose role as an Ignis Versatile unit will be superseded once you pull Chixia, and who’s unlikely to be called up to DPS for her element either thanks to that role already being easily filled by fellow 4-Star Amber.

Caramel is a more unusual case. The only Umbra Vanguard character in the game at launch, she has no 5-Star equivalent and is quite essential if you want to compose a team around that element. But she is nevertheless more elevated by Mistique and Cosette – the characters you’ll ideally want to place in support positions for her – than she is by the flexibility and utility of her own kit; and with Umbra currently sitting at the bottom of the elemental meta, it seems inevitable that a stronger alternative for her role is on its way.

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As you can see, Stella Sora already has a generously-populated launch roster, and the place is only going to get more crowded as the game evolves over future updates. To give you the best chance of pulling your faves without going broke, take a look at our Stella Sora codes list to ensure you don’t miss out on the latest freebies.