Neverness to Everness: The Ultimate Linko Build and Team Guide

The release of Version 1.3, “Rising from the Moonlit Fog,” has shaken up the tactical meta of Neverness to Everness by introducing Zankou, a much awaited S-Rank Incantation character. Now, the update’s second phase is upon us, and this time, the Anima based telepath Linko has entered the spotlight.

Players had an opportunity to take her for a quick test during the Scarlet Letter storyline: she is mostly useful as an off-field, quick-swap sub-DPS who specializes in amplifying follow-up attack damage and upgrading the potent Hexed elemental reaction from other team members, which may prove to be a major help in battles and activities such as the Pink Paws Heist.

Read on below to find out how to properly build her and achieve her maximum potential.

Who is Linko

Linko is a highly energetic and outgoing S-Rank Anima Esper who serves under Elite Task Division 6 of the Bureau of Anomaly Control—yeah, she is one of the good guys. Known for her bubbly and cheerful personality, she famously introduces herself to the Appraiser with her signature line announcing “Operation Play Date”.

In combat, she utilizes high-frequency telepathic energy and Plasma-type Arcs alongside her ghostly Anomaly partner, Xiaozhen, who resides inside her television backpack. Because her mechanical design heavily favors cooperative gameplay and coordinated off-field damage, she is far from a solo fighter and thrives on strong team synergy.

Unlike traditional active main damage dealers, Linko acts as a frequency coordinator from the background. Alongside Xiaozhen, Linko relies on a specific set of mechanics that call her onto the field for synchronized strikes without disrupting your team’s primary offensive flow. She can also reactivate her teammates’ skills, making her a cornerstone for anyone who plays on fast cycling and optimal damage dealing.

Her presence also upgrades the Hexed reaction, which occurs when Anima and Incantation elements collide. Normally, this reaction triggers a follow-up elemental burst. Linko’s passive ability, Weakness Radar, increases this follow-up damage by default simply by having her in your active squad.

Finally, while her mysterious background is closely tied to her Version 1.3 main story quests in Hethereau, she is also highly useful in the open world, where she can synchronize with Xiaozhen to use her partner’s spectral arms as a slingshot, launching herself high into the air and gliding across the city. Her English voice actress is Emi Lo, and she is voiced by Yui Ogura in the Japanese version.

Linko’s Best Builds

To maximize Linko’s contribution, she must be built with a highly offensive stat profile. Even though she spends a majority of her time on the bench, her coordinated off-field strikes scale entirely off her personal offensive stats, as well as her abilities allowing for benefits that contemplate the entire party.

Because she scales strictly with offensive stats, you should focus on building her critical consistency first before stacking raw multipliers. Here’s an optimal order to follow:

• Main Stats: Anima DMG Up > CRIT Rate > CRIT DMG > ATK Bonus
• Sub-stats: Universal DMG Bonus > CRIT DMG > CRIT Rate > ATK Bonus

Best Arcs

• Voice of the Voyager (5-Star Signature): Her absolute Best-in-Slot Arc, meticulously designed to complement her kit. It features a critical rate secondary stat alongside a permanent attack boost. More importantly, its passive increases her Support Skill Critical Damage by a staggering 66%. Whenever she lands a Support Skill, it grants a stacking Ultimate Critical Damage buff of 22% (up to three stacks for a total of 66%), aligning perfectly with her high-burst ultimate damage windows.
• Ready-Ready (5-Star Alternative): An outstanding alternative that provides a strong Critical Rate secondary attribute and a solid flat attack increase. Casting her Redirect Skill or Ultimate triggers a stacking damage boost for her Basic Attacks and Critical Ripostes. This is an exceptional weapon if you prefer a more active, on-field playstyle for Linko.
• Raging Flames (5-Star Alternative): This Arc boasts the highest flat base attack in the game at 666, paired with a Critical Damage substat. It boosts overall Redirect Skill and Ultimate damage after activating her Ultimate. While the passive’s specific elemental multiplier is wasted on her Anima element, it functions as an incredibly powerful stat stick for general off-field DPS.
• Oraora! (4-Star F2P Option): The best budget option available. It offers a massive percentage attack substat that rivals 5-star alternatives and provides stacking Basic Attack damage boosts. It is highly effective for low-investment setups.

Best Cartridges & Module Layout

• Fireflies and the Forest (Core 4-Piece Set): The premier cartridge choice for maximizing personal damage. The 2-piece set increases Anima Damage by 10%. The 4-piece set increases her Critical Damage by 8% whenever any active teammate inflicts Anima Damage on a nearby enemy, stacking up to 7 times for a massive 56% Critical Damage bonus. Because Linko frequently inflicts off-field Anima damage, she can easily trigger and maintain maximum stacks from the background.
• Speedy Hedgehog (Support Alternative): If your team does not have another character carrying this set, it serves as a highly functional alternative. It increases her overall Charge Efficiency, allowing her to deploy her Ultimate more frequently to trigger massive coordinated burst cycles. It also awards all teammates a 15% attack bonus for 20 seconds after her Ultimate is deployed.
• Module Layout Specialization: Linko’s console layout is highly specialized for Type III Modules. For every Type III Module equipped, she receives a passive 8% Critical Rate bonus. Utilizing up to six Type III modules in your vertical and diagonal slots allows you to easily cap her critical rate, freeing up your cartridge main stats and substats to focus entirely on critical damage and raw attack multipliers.

Mastering the Off-Field Combat Loop

To play Linko effectively, you must understand the flow of her off-field triggers. Her basic kit operates in a cycle: charging her energy gauge, freezing time to launch a synchronized attack, and utilizing her ultimate to execute massive follow-up chains.

Skill Upgrade Priority

Since all synchronized strikes scale their damage directly from her support multipliers, prioritize upgrading her abilities in the following order:

1. Support Skill (Poltergeist Left Straight Punch!) – This is the single most important skill, as it dictates the base multiplier of every coordinated strike.
2. Ultimate (Oversync) – Dictates her primary burst windows and Resonance Field bonuses.
3. Basic Attack (Poltergeist CQC) – Increases the damage dealt during her brief on-field generation phases.
4. Redirect Skill (Full-Frequency Pulse) – Upgraded last, as it is primarily used as a utility trigger rather than a major damage source.

Combat Rotations & Mechanics

To execute her combat loop flawlessly, follow these step-by-step mechanical phases:

1. Build Modulation: When Linko is on the field, execute her basic five-hit combat chain or perform perfect dodges to trigger her Ghosthand Counter. Each hit rapidly fills her Modulation gauge.
2. Unleash Full-Frequency Pulse: Once her gauge is sufficiently charged, activate her Redirect Skill. This pauses active game time and brings up a selection wheel. Tapping an ally or Xiaozhen consumes her accumulated Modulation points to trigger an amplified Synced Strike using that character’s element, scaling directly off Linko’s offensive stats.
3. Apply background Marks: While Linko is off-field, her passive companion periodically ambushes the active target every 8 seconds, applying a “Hit ‘Em Here!” mark.
4. Trigger Coordinated Attacks: When an active on-field character strikes a marked target with their Redirect Skill, the mark is consumed. This automatically summons Linko for an off-field coordinated strike, instantly refilling her Modulation and Cycle Energy without requiring you to switch her back onto the active field.
5. Initiate Oversync: When her Ultimate is fully charged, activate her Oversync state to deploy a Resonance Field. This synchronizes Linko with up to three teammates. Tapping the Redirect button allows you to chain multiple synchronized strikes consecutively. While this field remains active, any support skills cast by your team count as follow-up synchronized attacks, triggering additional damage and activating her Precision Tuning passive, which shreds enemy resistance to the striking character’s element by 8% for 12 seconds.

Linko’s Best Team Compositions

Because Linko’s kit is heavily focused on follow-up attacks and elemental resistance reduction, she performs best when paired with active characters that can trigger multiple background assists.

The Best Overall Team

• Sub-DPS: Linko
• Main DPS: Zankou
• Support: Sakiri
• Sustain: Iroi

This is the absolute pinnacle of Linko’s team synergy. Zankou is an Incantation main DPS whose powerful multi-hit attacks scale massively with follow-up damage multipliers. By pairing Zankou with Linko, you consistently trigger the upgraded Hexed reaction. Linko’s passive Weakness Radar boosts this damage to 30% and causes hexed enemies to take an additional 10% follow-up damage.

Sakiri provides essential grouping with her Redirect Skill, pulling scattered targets together so they remain trapped inside Linko’s Resonance Field during her ultimate, while also granting a team-wide attack buff. Iroi provides essential healing and further attack amplification, while easily maintaining the elemental reactions required to keep the cycle going.

The Best F2P Team 

• Main DPS: Baicang
• Sub-DPS: Linko
• Anima Support: Mint
• Sustain: Adler

You do not need an array of limited characters to make Linko a highly effective asset. In this budget-friendly setup, Baicang acts as the primary on-field Incantation damage dealer. Because Baicang relies on quick, high-impact combat words rather than extensive field time, he is perfect for a quickswap team structure.

Mint provides additional high-frequency Anima hits from the background to help Linko rapidly stack her Fireflies and the Forest cartridge set. Adler rounds out the composition by providing sturdy defensive shields, ensuring the team’s survival in challenging endgame content while allowing you to focus purely on executing quickswap rotations.

Final Thoughts

As supporting Espers go, Linko is probably one of the best around. She syncs well with pretty much every other playable character in the game, and while there is always the most optimal choice as teams go, even the most basic setups will make good use of her.

Given the fact that Neverness To Everness has a pretty generous pity system, if you’re running low on Annuliths and other resources (Zankou was a major pull and likely the most hard-hitting heavyweight in the game right now), you’re still likely to pull her and give your team yet another edge in combat.