Grail Tier List Hub

These lists are launch-week opinions for Grail 1.0 on Steam, not a living esports ladder. Asynchronous PvP means you rank engines, not players. If a card never fills, it is not S-tier on your save no matter what this hub says. Read energy and cards before you argue with a row.

How we rank

• S — shapes the run if you see it early and can fill it.
• A — default good in its pool.
• B — correct in a named combo, dead outside it.
• C — filler, sell bait, or pip traps.

We bias toward cards and traits that showed up in 0.39 / 1.0 notes and in launch footage (Toothpick, Bayonet, Old city canal, Guardbot, Steam pack, Plier, Iconics). Unknown cardopedia entries stay unranked rather than invented. When Sokpop patches numbers, check updates.

Four lists

1. Character tier list — Ratagnan vs Mabel vs Zappy for a new save and for a trophy spend.
2. Card tier list — attacks, food, gadgets, Iconics, with pip warnings.
3. Trait tier list — three-slot passives, including Insulated, Antifragile, Scutate.
4. Starter builds — named first kits you can actually buy on day 1–3.

Character short take

Ratagnan is S for learning and still S if you like bleed. Mabel is A once 200 trophies are paid and you want food/over-heal. Zappy is A/B depending on whether you enjoy gadget pips. None of them share cards. A “best card in the game” that belongs to Zappy is a brick in a Ratagnan shop. Open the matching hero page before you copy a PvP snapshot.

Card short take

Cheap cards that replay beat expensive cards that pose. Toothpick is the bleed seed. Cheese-plus-poison is the Mabel seed. Steam pack / Plier are Zappy seeds. Rapier of the Rat, Carrot roast dinner, and Johanna’s prosthetic are Iconics — S if they drop in the right pool, invisible otherwise. Guardbot is A when it auto-fires and buffs a thin deck. Four-pip souvenirs are C until your income grows. Full table: card tier list.

Trait short take

A trait that names a type you own is A. A trait that names a type you do not own is C, even if the name sounds 1.0-cool. You may hold three. Hold to remove. Trait tier list is short on purpose.

How to use this hub mid-run

Do not open all four lists after every fight. After a loss, open one: cards if nothing played, traits if a passive did nothing, builds if you never named an engine, characters if you are deciding a trophy spend between runs. Then change one thing on the river using the run planner and the synergy checklist.

What these lists are not

They are not a substitute for how to win a run. They are not patch notes — those are version 1.0. They are not a reason to skip the remade tutorial. They will be wrong the week Sokpop touches Bayonet again. Rank the engine you have, not the Iconic you want.