Grail Character Tier List

There are three playable heroes in Grail 1.0. They do not share shops. This list ranks them for a new save, a trophy spend, and a specialist. If you want kit details, use Ratagnan, Mabel, and Zappy. If you want named day-1 lists, use starter builds.

S — Ratagnan (new save and default main)

Ratagnan is unlocked immediately, taught by the remade tutorial, and backed by the largest public footage sample. Bleed with Toothpick and Bayonet is a complete engine. Poison with Old city canal is a second complete engine. Rapier of the Rat is an Iconic, not a requirement. He is S because he is available and because his cheap attacks teach pips. He is not S because he is “broken forever.” If you cannot fill Jab, no other hero will save you. Read energy and cards.

Play him until a six-win run. That is the whole new-player argument.

A — Mabel (trophy spend for food players)

200 trophies. Rabbit cook. Halter weight, Carrot bites, Iconic Carrot roast dinner, cheese lines, over-heal. She is A because her kit is coherent and because over-heal in 1.0 makes food more than panic HP. She is not S for new saves because she is gated and because players who still mix four statuses will waste the 200. Unlock her when Ratagnan bleed feels solved and you want a slower, taller run. Skip her if you hate watching heals.

A/B — Zappy (gadget specialist)

Later trophy unlock. Steam pack, Plier, hidden event, Iconic Johanna’s prosthetic, shock tools. A if you like energy puzzles and self-playing gadgets. B if you unlock him to “have the roster” and then stall on 3-pip souvenirs. Shock that hits the opponent is a tax on the genre. Shock that hits you is a joke. He demands status effects literacy.

Trophy order we recommend

1. Finish Ratagnan six-wins.
2. Pay 200 for Mabel if you want food.
3. Pay Zappy’s price if you want gadgets.
4. Then buy 40-trophy cosmetics chests.

Reversing that order is how you own alt art and still do not understand pips. Launch day explains demo cosmetics carrying over.

Versus snapshots

You will lose to the hero you have not learned yet. That is not a tier-list emergency. A Mabel over-heal snapshot beating your Ratagnan chip means you needed more detonations or a strip, not an emergency 200-trophy spend in the middle of a run (you cannot switch mid-run anyway). Change the river plan using PvP battles and how to win a run.

Rank table

Rank	Hero	Unlock	Default plan	Avoid if
S	Ratagnan	Free	Bleed chip or canal poison	You refuse to sell Jab
A	Mabel	200 trophies	Food + poison + over-heal	You have zero finished runs
A/B	Zappy	Later trophies	Gadgets + shock tax	You want simple rapiers

Ranks will move when Sokpop retunes Bayonet or food. Watch version 1.0 and later patch pages. For card-level calls inside a pool, open the card tier list. For passives, the trait tier list.

Method notes

This ranking uses launch notes (Mabel and Zappy as full-game unlocks, 200-trophy banner, 1.0 card adds) plus demo/launch footage. It does not invent a fourth hero. If a future patch adds one, this page will say so. Until then, three rows is the whole game.

Play the S hero. Spend trophies on the A hero that matches the sentence you want to say about the run. That is the list.