Launch update: This tier list reflects demo-era observations only. Full In Falsus card rankings — with effective-stat calculations for every Blueprint — publish within 24 hours of the September 9, 2026 launch. Bookmark this page; we refresh tiers as community Encounter data lands.
Looking for the best cards in In Falsus before launch? Below is our preliminary demo tier list — S/A/B/C rankings for the five protagonist Blueprints verified in demo v0.3.x, scored on the same four-axis framework we will apply to the full roster. These are not final; numbers and Trait pools may change on release day.
Demo-era tier list (August 2026)
Data source: public demo v0.3.x — five protagonist Blueprints only. lowiro has not published the full-release Blueprint count; tiers below will shift once launch data arrives.
Tier table
| Tier | Rating | Demo examples | Why they sit here |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Top pick | Iris — Lost Garden of Bonds (Yellow) · Nia — Path to Reality (Red) · Story — First Drop of Abyss (Purple) | Core Tolerance skills ignore specific penalty types (Overload, Out of Bounds, Overlap, or Disconnect) before stat reduction kicks in — enabling 100% effective stats on layouts that would hit 89% or 56% on other characters. Tolerance is the deepest optimization lever in the demo. |
| A | Strong | Nia — Path to Reality at clean integration (3700 Power / 1800 Defense) · Mei — 4AM (2800 Power / 3200 Defense) · Ayame — A Warm Gaze Seeking Others (Green) | Highest verified base stats plus solid pentagon coverage. Nia leads demo Power; Mei leads Defense. Ayame's Green beats Purple in the advantage cycle — strong mid-roster filler. |
| B | Viable | Mei — 4AM Power-skewed build · Ayame — partial-zone Green integration · Iris — Yellow without Tolerance leverage | Usable in most Encounters but outperformed by S/A picks. Mei offense builds trade survivability; Ayame needs full zone fills to compete; Iris without Tolerance-aware placement loses to cleaner layouts. |
| C | Niche | Story — Purple vs Yellow-heavy Encounters · Any card at 1-penalty (89%) · Single-color loadout slots | Scenario-dependent. Purple loses advantage to Blue; one-penalty integrations are rarely worth the stat tax unless Tolerance absorbs it; mono-color slots waste ×1.25 phases. Test with the Loadout Simulator. |
S-tier detail — why Tolerance wins
Tolerance ignores certain penalties before the stat multiplier applies. Effective penalty count = triggered penalties minus Tolerance — only the remainder counts toward the table below. That is why Iris, Nia and Story Blueprint cards rank S: their character Core Skills forgive placement mistakes other protagonists cannot, keeping Power and Defense at full strength on aggressive hex grids.
Check your character's Tolerance in-game before copying a community layout — the same grid integrates at wildly different multipliers. Full breakdown: Blueprint guide.
How we score cards — four axes
Every tier entry above — and every launch-day rank — is backed by four scored axes. We show the math, not just a letter.
1. Effective stats (Power / Defense after penalties)
Blueprint penalties scale the entire card, not individual stats:
| Effective penalties | Power & Defense multiplier |
|---|---|
| 0 | 100% |
| 1 | 89% |
| 2 | 56% |
| 3+ | 0% (dead card) |
Formula: Effective stat = Base stat × Potency multiplier × Penalty multiplier, where penalty multiplier comes from effective penalty count after Tolerance. A Nia card at 3700 base Power with two effective penalties drops to 2,072 effective Power — worse than a clean 2,800 Mei build. Run numbers in the Iota Solver before committing Iota.
2. Trait utility (average Phase value)
Encounters split into five Phases; each activates the next card in your loadout. Traits rank by average value across those Phases:
| Trait | Timing | Demo value |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Recovery++ | Phase start | +11% Resolve — best on long Encounters and defensive Mei builds |
| Opening Surge++ | Phase start | 0.11× Power damage — scales with high-Power Nia integrations |
| Inner Concentration++ | Whole Phase | ×1.66 Power/damage — top DPS trait for multi-Phase fights |
| Inner Rigor++ | Whole Phase | ×1.66 Defense/damage reduction — pairs with 4AM's 3200 Defense base |
We rank Traits by average Phase activation value, not peak single-Phase burst. Resolve recovery Traits climb on story Encounters; damage Traits climb on short burst windows.
3. Color coverage (pentagon cycle)
Colors beat each other in a fixed cycle:
Red → Green → Purple → Yellow → Blue → Red
The advantaged side gains ×1.25 Power and Defense. No single demo Blueprint covers every Phase — the best loadout spreads five colors so each Phase can lead with advantage. Demo color map:
| Character | Blueprint | Color | Beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nia | Path to Reality | Red | Green |
| Ayame | A Warm Gaze Seeking Others | Green | Purple |
| Story | First Drop of Abyss | Purple | Yellow |
| Iris | Lost Garden of Bonds | Yellow | Blue |
| Mei | 4AM | Blue | Red |
Order cards per Phase with the Loadout Simulator — its optimization suggestions quantify exactly where ×1.25 beats raw stats.
4. Farming cost (Iota demand)
Each Blueprint integration consumes the Iota you place. Higher-Tier shapes and repeated re-integrations drain your pool. We score farming cost as qualifying clears required (Connected + Dive Clear or better) to fill a target build — estimate yours with the Iota Farming Planner. A B-tier card you can farm three times often beats an S-tier card stuck at one copy early game.
What the demo already confirms
- Penalty discipline beats raw stats. The 89% / 56% / 0% curve is steep — zero-penalty placement is the best habit you can train now.
- Tolerance skills are tier-makers. Characters whose Tolerance ignores certain penalties enable layouts other cards cannot match — the S-tier row above.
- Color matchup (×1.25) outranks small stat gaps. A weaker advantaged card out-damages a stronger neutral one in most Phases.
Update schedule
| Milestone | What we publish |
|---|---|
| Launch day (Sep 9) | Full roster database + revised S/A/B/C tiers with effective-stat calculations |
| Launch + 1 week | Tiers revised after community Encounter validation |
| First major patch | Delta notes — what moved and why |
Tier entries live alongside the card database and cards explained. Want to test a specific build meanwhile? Run it through the Iota Solver for penalty-free stat previews.
Related pages
- Cards explained — the integration system
- Blueprint guide — penalties and Tolerance
- Loadout Simulator — per-Phase card ordering
- Card database — Blueprint stats and properties
In Falsus © lowiro. Rankings on this page are community analysis based on demo v0.3.x data; full ratings update within 24 hours of the September 9, 2026 launch.