NTE Version 1.3 Preview: Zankou, Linko and the August 8 Livestream

Hotta Studio has confirmed that the Version 1.3 "Rising from the Moonlit Fog" Preview Special Program airs on 8 August 2026 at 19:30 (UTC+8), streaming on NTE's official YouTube and Twitch channels. That broadcast is the moment the update stops being guesswork: both new S-Class characters have already been revealed through official drip marketing — Zankou and Linko — but their kits, the banner schedule, and the update's launch date have not. With Version 1.2's events running until 19 August, Appraisers have roughly two weeks to bank Annulith before any of it goes live. Here's what's confirmed, what isn't, and how to prepare without committing to a character whose abilities nobody has seen.

The 8 August broadcast is the date that matters

Special Programs are how NTE announces each version, and Hotta Studio has kept them on a consistent rhythm — each one lands roughly 10 to 11 days ahead of the matching update. That pattern lines up neatly with Version 1.2's events closing on 19 August.

The broadcast is expected to reveal the full skill kits and gameplay animations for both new characters, the banner schedule with actual dates, and the story and event content coming with the patch. If you only make one calendar note from this article, that's the one: everything else here is context for a stream that's five days out.

One practical footnote worth acting on — redemption codes have historically been distributed during these livestreams, and NTE codes expire without much warning. Watching live, or checking a code roundup immediately afterwards, is free currency.

Zankou: the antagonist joins the roster

Zankou headlines the first half of Version 1.3, revealed through official drip marketing on NTE's channels with a redesigned look for her playable version.

What's confirmed: she is an S-Class Esper of the Incantation type. Appraisers already know her from the story — she's affiliated with the Scarlet Letter, the faction working against you through the main campaign, and she appears as a boss fight during the Chapter 4 story arc. In that encounter she fights with a large sword and a fast, aggressive combo style built around spectral blade attacks.

If you're new to the terminology: an Esper type in NTE is a character's damage element, and it determines which enemies they break efficiently and which teammates they pair with. Incantation has had few playable representatives so far compared with types like Anima, which is part of why Zankou's reveal drew attention — a limited character in a thinly-populated type tends to fill a slot rather than compete for one.

What isn't confirmed is the part that decides whether she's worth your Annulith: her actual kit. Her role hasn't been officially stated, her signature Arc hasn't been detailed, and the sword in her reveal art points toward a melee damage-dealer without confirming it. Her story moveset is a boss moveset, and boss versions of characters routinely play nothing like their playable counterparts.

Linko: ETD-6 and a ghost in a television

Linko has been revealed as Version 1.3's second S-Class character, filling the update's back half.

Confirmed details: she is an S-Class Anima Esper and a member of ETD-6 within the Bureau of Anomaly Control, the same unit as Version 1.2's Chaos, serving under lieutenant Elyms and captain Exe. Her most distinctive feature is her partner — a ghost anomaly named Xiaozhen that lives inside a television Linko carries on her back like a backpack. Attentive players may have already spotted her, as she made a brief appearance at the close of The Debt Collector chapter.

Anima is a considerably better-populated type in the current roster, which makes Linko a different proposition from Zankou. Her value will depend heavily on whether her kit does something the Anima characters you already own don't, and that's exactly what the broadcast should answer.

Her banner is expected in Version 1.3's second phase, which by the game's standard three-week cycle would put her in early September — but that figure is arithmetic from past patterns, not a date anyone has announced.

What hasn't been announced

Keeping these separate from the confirmed material matters, because most of the pull-planning content circulating right now blurs the two:

• Version 1.3's launch date. Widely expected around 19 or 20 August because Version 1.2 closes on the 19th and updates have followed a roughly six-week cadence, but Hotta Studio hasn't stated it. The Special Program is where it should be confirmed.
• Both characters' full kits. No official skill lists, roles, scaling, or team synergies exist yet.
• Signature Arcs and weapon banners. Limited characters have historically debuted alongside a signature Arc, but nothing specific has been published for either.
• Rerun banners. No returning characters have been named for either phase.
• Exact banner windows. Phase lengths have varied between updates — Version 1.1's second banner ran shorter than its first — so don't assume a uniform three weeks each.

What the timing means for your Annulith

Here's the useful part while you wait, and it holds regardless of what the kits turn out to be.

NTE's banner system carries pity progress forward between banners rather than resetting it, which changes the maths of saving. Currency you bank now isn't parked idly against one specific character — progress you build applies onward. That makes "save until the kits are shown" a genuinely low-cost strategy in this game, in a way it isn't in titles where an unused pity resets.

So the sensible sequence is:

• Bank Annulith and tickets through the 1.2 window. Two weeks of dailies, event rewards, and story clears is a real total by the 19th.
• Finish Version 1.2's content before 19 August. Event modes and their reward tracks close with the version. Anything unclaimed on the 20th is gone, and that's currency you could have spent on 1.3.
• Watch the broadcast, then decide. Kits, roles, and banner dates all land at once on 8 August.

On the decision itself, the question worth asking is whether either character fits the roster you actually field, not how much you'd need to spend to get them. If your Incantation options are thin and you've wanted a melee damage-dealer for that slot, Zankou is positioned to fill a real gap. If you're already running several Anima characters comfortably, Linko needs to justify herself on utility rather than type coverage. And if your account is still building out its core teams, the honest answer may be that neither is a priority this cycle — the standard roster keeps growing, and skipping a banner with pity carried forward is not a loss.

For context on how these cycles have played out, our Version 1.2 "999 Nights" breakdown covers the current update in full, and the Version 1.1 launch guide shows how banner phases and pity carryover worked in practice. Keep the NTE code roundup handy for the post-broadcast drop, and if you're spending the wait on side content, the full vehicle guide covers what's worth buying in Hethereau.

Get ready for 1.3

Two weeks is enough to bank a meaningful pull total if your dailies stay consistent — and consistency is the part a busy schedule breaks. Browse verified Neverness to Everness accounts if you'd rather enter 1.3 with a deeper roster and reserves already in place, book Neverness to Everness hourly services to keep dailies and 1.2 event clears moving before the 19th, or arrange Neverness to Everness boosting to close out story progression ahead of the new chapter.

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