Grail Characters Hub
Each hero has a private card pool. Unlock with trophies, then stay in that pool.
Grail’s roster is small and the card pools are not shared. You cannot splash a Zappy gadget onto a Ratagnan bleed run because you saw it in a snapshot. Pick a character, learn that pool, then spend trophies. This hub is the roster map. Rankings live on the character tier list. First-hour play is getting started.
Ratagnan — available immediately
Ratagnan is the purple musketeer rat on every piece of key art. The demo was built around him. Bleed tools (Toothpick, Bayonet), later poison toys (Old city canal), food like Marron glacé, and the Iconic Rapier of the Rat live here. If you are new, do not unlock anyone else until you can finish a six-win run on this kit. His pages on this wiki assume you understand status effects enough to pick bleed or poison, not both.
Mabel — 200 trophies
Mabel is the grey rabbit with a rolling pin on the character select. The unlock banner in launch footage shows 200 trophies. Her 1.0 cards include Halter weight and Carrot bites. Her Iconic is Carrot roast dinner. Cheese and carrot lines, heals, and over-heal (new in 1.0) are the reason to pay the trophy gate. If you like stacking food instead of rapiers, she is the second save file, not a cosmetic.
Zappy — later trophy unlock
Zappy is the inventor. Steam pack and Plier were added in the 1.0 / 0.39 window, plus a hidden event and the Iconic Johanna’s prosthetic. Shock, gadgets, and self-playing tools show up in his fights. Do not buy him because the portrait looks rare. Buy him when Ratagnan bleed feels solved and you want a different pip puzzle.
How unlocks work
Trophies drop from winning games. They also buy cosmetics chests (40 trophies in the demo-season row) and alt art. Those chests do not add characters. The character select arrows cycle the roster; locked heroes show the trophy price instead of Play. Demo-exclusive cosmetics were promised to carry into 1.0 — see launch day.
You may name the save (“Tio” shows under the portrait in many clips). The name is cosmetic. The rank ribbon under the name (Peasant, Soldier, Deity in footage) is a progression tag on that run, not a second class select.
How to choose
- Want the default campaign and most public guides? Ratagnan.
- Want heals, cheese, and over-heal? Mabel.
- Want gadgets and shock taxes? Zappy.
- Want a ranked opinion? Character tier list and starter builds.
Pools change what shops can show. A “best card” on the card tier list may simply not exist on your hero. Check the character page before you copy a snapshot you lost to in PvP battles.
Lore, not loadouts
The Grail is a relic that is said to grant a wish. Each hero has a reason to hunt it. Winning with different cards unlocks lore entries in the cardopedia. That is collection, not a stat stick. Day 10’s good and bad endings in 1.0 are the story payoff. Play for six wins first; read lore in the menu when a run is dead.
When you have picked a hero, open that hero’s page, then the matching starter builds row, then the run planner so you do not spend the first three days buying the other guy’s cards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Who should I play first in Grail?
Ratagnan. He is unlocked immediately and the tutorial is built around his pool.
How do I unlock Mabel?
Pay 200 trophies on the character select. Trophies come from winning runs.
Do characters share cards?
No. Each hero has a unique pool and traits. Shop what that page lists, not what a snapshot showed.
What does Deity under the name mean?
Footage shows rank ribbons such as Peasant, Soldier, and Deity on a run. It is not a separate class select.