The wait is over. The 4th Anniversary livestream on October 24 finally revealed the lineup: Marian: Queen and Scarlet: Goddeath headline the anniversary, and Rapunzel: Sanctuary is free for everyone. The update goes live on October 29.
That changes the question. It is no longer whether to save, but where to spend. Marian comes first, Scarlet follows a week later, and both are 1% Pilgrim banners. Meanwhile, Belorta's Halloween banner is still running until October 28.
To help you plan, this NIKKE banner schedule starts with what is live right now, then walks through every confirmed anniversary banner and the ones most likely to follow. We finish with the NIKKE leaks that are still open, and check which earlier rumors the livestream confirmed.
And if your Gems already look thin, you can top up NIKKE Gems through GamsGo for up to 30% off.
About this article: Updated October 25, 2026. Confirmed details come from the official September 17 and October 8 patch notes, the October 24 4th Anniversary livestream and press release, and SHIFT UP's Developer's Notes. Predictions are kept separate from confirmed banners, and we update the page when an official notice replaces a guess.
🔎Quick Navigation
- Current NIKKE Banner: Belorta: Pumpkin Witch
- Next NIKKE Banner: The 4th Anniversary
- Previous NIKKE Banners: Sin, Guilty, and the Winter Rerun
- Upcoming NIKKE Banners: Christmas Limiteds
- NIKKE Leaks and Rumors
- NIKKE Banner History 2026
- How NIKKE Banners Work
- Should You Pull Now or Save?
Current NIKKE Banner Schedule (October 2026)
The October 8 update opened a new Halloween banner for Belorta: Pumpkin Witch, and she is the last new banner before the anniversary. The table below gives you the quick overview.
Who Is Belorta: Pumpkin Witch?
Belorta is the resident prankster of Tetra's Carronade squad. This Halloween she becomes the 203rd Nikke in the game, and the first SSR built around a Halloween theme. Her design goes all in: a black-and-orange witch outfit, jack-o'-lantern and ghost accents, and a pumpkin basket with a tiny Mica peeking out of it.
In the LITTLE WITCH TRICK story, she throws herself into festival prep and pranks until strange rumors start spreading around her.
Belorta: Pumpkin Witch Skills
Her kit follows one rule: nearly every buff goes to the ally on her right. Her first skill, Playful Little Witch, triggers at the start of each Full Burst. That ally gains ATK equal to 44.88% of Belorta's ATK for 10 seconds.
Belorta, meanwhile, slips into her Ghost Costume, which stops single-target attacks from locking onto her for 10 seconds, or until she takes a direct hit. It also raises her Max HP by 15.84%.
Her second skill, Trick or Treat!, rewards full charge shots. Each one gives the right-side ally a 19.97% Sustained Damage buff for 5 seconds. Sustained Damage is NIKKE's term for damage-over-time effects, which is why she works best next to units that rely on them. If she lands that shot while still in costume, the enemy also takes 10.56% more damage for 10 seconds.
Her Burst, Happy Halloween!, then stacks another 47.52% of her ATK onto that same ally, plus 27.23% Sustained Damage for 10 seconds. Together, her two ATK buffs hand over roughly 90% of her own ATK. She is not limited, so after her banner ends she joins Ordinary Recruit, Social Point Recruit, and Mold items.
Other October Events Alongside Belorta
Belorta's banner shares the month with a few things worth logging in for. The LITTLE WITCH TRICK story event runs until October 28 at 23:59 (UTC+9). Cinderella, who won the global popularity poll, gets a free maid costume through Cinderella Special, which stays open until December 3, along with her own story event.
The update also added a new Old Tales side story, GINGERBREAD HOUSE, which we come back to in the leaks section. If you bought the October Mission Pass, its Treat Chef costume for Crust stays available until October 31.
Next NIKKE Banner: The 4th Anniversary
Once Belorta's banner closes on October 28, the next NIKKE banner is the anniversary itself. The October 24 livestream filled in almost every blank, so this section now covers confirmed details: the new banners, their dates, the story, and the free rewards.
What the NIKKE 4th Anniversary Livestream Revealed
The 4th Anniversary livestream aired on October 24 at 19:00 (UTC+9) under the theme "Here We Stand, Goddesses of Victory." It confirmed three new Pilgrim Nikkes, two new main story chapters, a story event called MARIA-n, and up to 259 free recruits.
It also brought a few extras. A TRACING THE STARS x Stellar Blade music collaboration adds 22 tracks from the game, four of them free. Fading Affection, a choice-based text adventure, joins as the anniversary minigame. Four new costumes were shown, including a wedding-dress costume for Marian: Queen.
When Does the NIKKE 4th Anniversary Update Start?
The date is now official. The update goes live worldwide on Thursday, October 29, right in line with the last three anniversaries:
Once again, the update lands on a Thursday, five days after the livestream. Belorta's banner closing at 23:59 on October 28, instead of the usual 04:59, now makes sense too: it ends just hours before the anniversary maintenance.
The 4th Anniversary Story: Chapters 49 and 50
SHIFT UP called this the largest anniversary update NIKKE has ever had back in the August 2026 Developer's Note, and the story backs that up. Main Chapters 49 and 50 cover the Third Surface Reclamation War, humanity's next push to retake the surface, and close out the Underground Ark storyline that has run for years.
The setup comes straight from Chapter 48, which ended with the Queen, now in the form of a Goddess statue, heading toward the Ark. The new chapters add two bosses: Nostalgia, and a boss called Goddess of Victory that represents the Queen fused with the orbital elevator. Clearing both chapters rewards 20 Recruit Vouchers through the Trail Marker event.
Alongside the main story, the fully voiced event MARIA-n follows Marian as she wakes inside a vast research facility and starts uncovering lost memories. It comes with her own theme song, "Call My Name Again."
Looking Back at the 4th Anniversary Teaser Art
The official teaser art showed Rapi, Anis, Neon, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Snow White, Helm, Ark Ranger Black, and Laplace preparing to place a new tiara on a Goddess statue. Scarlet and Rapunzel were missing, which led many fans to expect them later.
In hindsight, the crown was the real hint. It pointed to Marian: Queen, and the missing pair turned out to be part of the anniversary after all. It is a good reminder that teaser art rarely shows the full lineup.
4th Anniversary Banners: Marian: Queen, Scarlet: Goddeath, and Free Rapunzel: Sanctuary
Both headliners are new Pilgrims, the small group of rare, powerful Nikkes tied closely to the main story, and both are Fire Attackers. Rapunzel: Sanctuary is the third new Pilgrim, but she is free:
Marian: Queen opens the anniversary. She attacks multiple enemies at regular intervals, and her Burst strengthens that further. In her story, she competes with the Space Queen for "the ultimate prize": a world where her companions no longer die.
Scarlet: Goddeath follows a week later. She is an Eden-enhanced form of Scarlet built around Pierce attacks, and her sword is forged from her own shattered blade and her sister Jang-hwa's. Rapunzel: Sanctuary heals through her attacks while raising the team's damage, and four free copies are enough to fully limit break her.
Keep one thing in mind: Pilgrim banners run at a 1% rate-up instead of the regular 2%, so both headliners are twice as hard to pull as a normal unit. A Pilgrim Selective Recruitment with Nayuta, Cinderella, and Grave also returns, which gives newer accounts a second shot at older story Pilgrims.
4th Anniversary Rewards: Up to 259 Free Recruits
This year's rewards are bigger than usual. The 3rd Anniversary gave out close to 200 recruits, while the 4th offers up to 259. They come from login rewards, events, the minigame, daily free recruits, and web events. The mix includes Advanced Recruit Vouchers, regular Recruit Vouchers, free pulls on the anniversary banners, and free pulls on the Pilgrim Selective Recruitment.
The free SSR tradition continues as well. One Rapunzel: Sanctuary comes from the anniversary login event, and up to three more come from 4th Anniversary Nikke Selection Boxes. Each box lets you pick Rapunzel: Sanctuary, Chime, Rapunzel: Pure Grace, or Snow White: Innocent Days, so newer players can take an older anniversary unit instead. Smaller events add more: Trail Marker pays out for clearing the new chapters, and the dice event Volt Trip hands out Advanced Recruit Vouchers for daily tasks.
Previous NIKKE Banners (September 17 Update)
The COIN RUSH SHOWDOWN update on September 17 brought three banners, and all of them have now closed. Guilty's banner and the winter rerun ended on October 8, and Sin followed on October 15. They still matter if you own those units or want to plan for their return.
Sin: Swift Bunny (Ended October 15)
Sin belongs to Missilis's Real Kindness, a squad of reformed convicts. Her bunny version arrived on September 24, a week after her squadmate Guilty's, and her banner was the last of the COIN RUSH SHOWDOWN banners to close.
Sin and Guilty share a two-stance system called Bunny Mode. Holding a full charge for one second switches between Stance and Engage, though not while a Burst weapon is active. The two also stay in sync, so when one switches, the other follows.
In Stance mode, Sin plays as a crit build, with a 35% Critical Rate boost and a 75% Critical Damage boost. In Engage mode, her normal attacks turn into true damage, which ignores the enemy's defense entirely.
Her Burst raises her ATK by 110% for 5 seconds and hits every enemy on the field. It adds either a big crit-friendly hit in Stance mode or a big true damage hit in Engage mode. For the next 5 seconds, she also switches to a fast-charging weapon called Swift Carrot.
That AoE nuke is what makes her stand out. Nikke.gg's early ratings give her 4.5 out of 5 for both PvP and Deficit, the hard Campaign stages where enemies outlevel your team. In pure boss fights, Guilty still comes out ahead when both run in a true damage team.
Build-wise, she asks for more than most. Prydwen notes that she scales better with duplicate copies than Guilty does. Charge Speed also matters more for her when you roll Overload lines, the random bonus stats on max-level gear. Like Guilty, she moves to the standard pool in a version update after her banner.
Guilty: Mighty Bunny (Ended October 8)
Guilty headlined the same update, and her banner closed on October 8. Where Sin clears whole waves, Guilty was built almost entirely for boss fights. She is not gone for good, though. She moves to the standard pool in a version update after her banner.
She uses the same Bunny Mode switch as Sin, but with a different payoff. In Stance mode, she gains Attack Damage and Charge Damage, and every fully charged hit adds a large chunk of bonus damage. In Engage mode, she drops those self-buffs, and both her normal attacks and her Burst turn into true damage.
Her Burst, Mighty Stomp, trades her rifle for a single heavy shot with a 1.5-second charge. That one round gets a 1,400% Charge Damage boost, and she keeps an Attack Damage buff for 10 seconds afterward. This is why she pairs so well with Miranda and her Treasure, a special upgrade item for certain Nikkes. Miranda's upgraded buff is built for exactly this kind of one-shot Burst weapon.
The numbers back up the hype. Nikke.gg puts her damage at roughly 80% of Snow White: Heavy Arms, one of the strongest Water units in the game, and rates her S for bossing. Inven Global places her just below Snow White: Heavy Arms and Dorothy: Serendipity among Water DPS. Nikke.gg even expects her to push Bready out of some Water raid teams.
Her weak spots are just as clear. She has no AoE, so she struggles in regular Campaign stages and scores only a C in Arena. If you already own her, Nikke.gg suggests 4x ATK and 4x Elemental Damage Overload lines, then Charge Speed. Level Skill 2 first, and aim for skill levels of 4/7/7 for now.
Winter Limited Select Recruit Rerun (Ended October 8)
The third banner from that update was a Limited Select Recruit. Instead of one featured unit, you picked one Nikke from a list of six, and only your pick got the 2% rate-up. It closed together with Guilty's banner, and none of these units join the standard pool afterward. Their next chance depends on a future rerun.
Two of the six stood out for most accounts. If you picked them up, here is how to use them. If you missed them, this is what to watch for next time.
Ludmilla: Winter Owner (X-Ludmilla, Ended October 8)
Ludmilla: Winter Owner first arrived in December 2023 as the owner of a northern hot spring. The community calls her X-Ludmilla, and she has been a Water raid staple ever since.
Most bosses have an exposed core, a glowing weak point, and her machine gun deals double damage whenever it hits one. Her first skill puts a damage taken debuff on her target, which lifts the whole team's damage.
Her second skill adds bonus damage every 60 core hits and raises her Critical Rate at the start of each Full Burst. Her Burst gives her a 62.54% ATK boost for 10 seconds, along with faster reloads.
Against cored bosses, guides compare her damage to Modernia's, and a well-built X-Ludmilla can even pull ahead. She also needs fewer Max Ammo Overload lines than most machine guns. Her weaknesses are slow burst generation, no AoE, and no ATK buff outside her Burst. Prioritize Skill 1, then her Burst.
Maiden: Ice Rose (X-Maiden, Ended October 8)
Maiden: Ice Rose joined the winter lineup in December 2024. She is an Elysion Defender on paper, but most players treat her as a damage dealer and Electric support rolled into one.
Her kit runs on a stack system called MP. She gains stacks with each Full Burst and spends them all when she uses her Burst, so the more she saves, the bigger the hit. She also buffs every other Electric ally on the team.
That buff is what keeps her relevant. Prydwen notes she is the only unit that grants an Elemental Damage buff to Electric allies. This makes her hard to replace in Solo Raid, the ranked boss mode, whenever the boss is weak to Electric.
Outside that niche, she loses some value. Her Burst hits a single target, and her team ATK buff is weaker than it looks because it scales off a Defender's stats. On the plus side, her burst generation is strong for a rocket launcher, which gives her a place in PvP too.
The Other Four Winter Nikkes (Ended October 8)
The rest of the winter lineup was more situational. Each one solves a specific problem, so the right pick at the next rerun will depend on what your roster is missing:
In short, Guillotine is the only one of the four worth planning around, and only once X-Ludmilla and X-Maiden are covered. The other three fill specific gaps, so pick one only if your team is missing what she offers.
Upcoming NIKKE Banners With High Probability
Beyond the anniversary, one stop on the schedule is close to certain: the Christmas limiteds. The lineup is not official yet, but the track record speaks for itself.
Christmas Winter Limited NIKKE Banners (December)
After the anniversary, the next fixed stop on the NIKKE banner schedule is December. Every Christmas so far has added a new pair of winter limited units:
Four years in a row makes this one of the most dependable patterns in the game. A new pair this December is about as safe a prediction as NIKKE gets.
NIKKE Leaks and Rumors (Unconfirmed)
Everything above is either confirmed or backed by a strong yearly pattern. The rest of the schedule depends on NIKKE banner leaks and fan theories, so it helps to know how much weight they can carry. The livestream also settled several rumors from earlier this month, and we mark those below.
How Reliable Are NIKKE Leaks?
Many big gacha games leak through beta test builds weeks before an update. NIKKE has no beta like that for leakers to dig through. Instead, most early information comes from three places. The first is character files that arrive in a patch before they are used. The other two are official silhouette teasers and clues in the story.
That limits what a leak can tell you. Finding a new character model in the game files proves she exists. It does not prove she will be playable, and it says nothing about when her banner opens.
SHIFT UP has also pushed back on leaks before, and at least one major English NIKKE creator publicly stopped posting datamined content in 2023. As a result, much of what spreads online today is secondhand. Most of this month's anniversary "leaks," for example, were fan readings of the official teaser art rather than files from the game.
To make this easier to follow, we sort each rumor into three levels:
A Low rating does not mean the rumor is false. It just means it is not solid enough to plan your Gems around.
Hansel and Gretel
Reliability: Medium
Hansel and Gretel are the last two members of the fairy-tale-themed Old Tales squad who are not playable yet. Their storyline stopped on a cliffhanger, when Little Mermaid said the twins are no longer on humanity's side. The 2026 summer event then dropped more hints about where they are.
The October 8 side story, GINGERBREAD HOUSE, pushed them further into the spotlight. It follows Old Tales across the sea to search for the twins, only to run into a mysterious stranger instead. The twins did not appear in the anniversary lineup, though, so they are now a candidate for a later update rather than this one.
There is one more clue to watch. Chapters 49 and 50 close the Underground Ark arc, and SHIFT UP has already teased a new story chapter after them. A fresh arc would be a natural place for the twins to return, but no model or official teaser has shown them yet, so do not plan your Gems around them alone.
Marian's New Form
Confirmed: Marian: Queen
This was rated Low before the livestream, since Marian had no new model in the game files. Several Japanese fan sites still listed a new Marian as a top anniversary candidate, and the tiara in the teaser art led fans to call the idea "Queen Marian."
They were right. Marian: Queen is now the anniversary's opening banner, and she even has her own story event. It is a useful example of how strong story clues can beat a lack of game-file evidence.
Rapunzel's New Role and a Possible New Year Split
New Weapons — Confirmed
Japanese fans who broke down the Chapter 48 trailer noticed that both Scarlet and Rapunzel carry redesigned weapons. The livestream confirmed it: Scarlet: Goddeath's sword is forged from her old blade and Jang-hwa's.
The bigger role change some fans predicted did not happen. Rapunzel: Sanctuary is still a Supporter, though she now raises team damage on top of healing.
New Year Split — Ruled Out
Another theory was that the pair would skip the anniversary, because they were missing from the teaser art and the New Year slot has become a major release window. Rapi: Red Hood opened on January 1, 2025, and the Pilgrim Snow White: Heavy Arms took the same slot a year later.
That theory is now ruled out. Both Scarlet and Rapunzel arrive with the anniversary. The New Year slot is still open, but nothing official points to who will take it.
NIKKE Banner History 2026
Looking back at this year's banners puts the predictions and leaks above in context. The tables below show how often limited units return and how SHIFT UP spaces out its big releases. In the Type column, Pilgrim and Over-Spec mark the 1% banners, while limited means the unit leaves when her banner ends.
January–June 2026 Banners
The six summer limiteds that came back in June were Anis: Sparkling Summer, Neon: Blue Ocean, Helm: Aquamarine, Mary: Bay Goddess, Rosanna: Chic Ocean, and Sakura: Bloom in Summer.
July–November 2026 Banners
Two patterns stand out. Seasonal limited units now return in big groups instead of one at a time, as the June and September reruns show. New versions of existing characters, such as Arcana, Laplace, Maxwell, Drake, Guilty, Sin, Belorta, and now Marian and Scarlet, also make up a growing share of the banners.
How NIKKE Banners Work
Several terms in this guide, like rate-ups and Pilgrim banners, come from NIKKE's banner rules. If you are newer to the game, this quick comparison covers the main banner types.
Special Recruit, Pilgrim, and Limited Banners
Across all featured banners, the chance of pulling any SSR stays at 4%. One pull costs 300 Gems, and ten pulls cost 3,000. Regular Recruit Vouchers only work on Ordinary Recruit, so keep your Advanced Recruit Vouchers for the featured banners you care about.
Gold Mileage and the 200-Pull Spark
NIKKE has no pity system, which means the game never guarantees a featured unit after a set number of failed pulls. It uses a spark system instead. Each pull on a featured banner gives you one Gold Mileage Ticket.
Collect 200, and you can buy that banner's featured Nikke in the Mileage Shop. Unused tickets carry over after a banner ends, so the ones you earn now still count toward the anniversary.
Sparking from zero takes 200 pulls, or 60,000 Gems. That sounds like a lot, but most players only need one copy. Three duplicates fully limit break a Nikke (MLB), raising her level cap to the maximum. Each copy after that only raises her Core level for a small stat boost.
Should You Pull Now or Save for the NIKKE 4th Anniversary?
With the rules covered, we can get to the real question. The anniversary update is only days away, so saving is still the better call for most accounts. The harder choice now is how to split your pulls between Marian and Scarlet.
Who Should Pull Before and During the Anniversary?
How Many Gems Should You Save for the Anniversary Banners?
When you plan, count your Gold Mileage first, not your Gems. Say you already have 80 tickets. You would need 120 more pulls on Marian's or Scarlet's banner to guarantee her through the Mileage Shop. Advanced Recruit Vouchers count too, since each one is a pull.
You will not have to cover all of that yourself. As the rewards breakdown above shows, the anniversary hands out up to 259 free recruits, though some are locked to specific banners. Still, relying on luck alone at a Pilgrim's 1% rate can leave you 150 pulls deep with nothing to show for it, and sparking both headliners takes 400 pulls.
For reference, a casual free-to-play account earns about 20 pulls' worth of Gems each month, plus event vouchers. If the math still comes up short for the banner you want, you can top up NIKKE through GamsGo.
Final Thoughts
So where does that leave the NIKKE banner schedule? Belorta: Pumpkin Witch holds the Halloween slot until October 28, and she is not limited, so she is safe to skip. Sin, Guilty, and the winter rerun are already gone.
The anniversary is now locked in. The update goes live on October 29 with Marian: Queen, followed by Scarlet: Goddeath on November 5, while Rapunzel: Sanctuary is free for everyone. Up to 259 free recruits soften the 1% rate, but not enough to spark both headliners for free.
Beyond that, Hansel and Gretel remain the most likely next story Pilgrims, and December should bring a new pair of winter limiteds.
For most Commanders, that points to one plan. Claim every free reward first, then pick the headliner your roster needs most. Carry the rest of your Gold Mileage into that banner.
FAQ
When Is the Next NIKKE Banner?
The next NIKKE banner is Marian: Queen, which opens after maintenance on October 29 and runs until November 19 at 04:59 (UTC+9), or 11:59 AM PT on November 18. Scarlet: Goddeath follows from November 5 to November 26. Nothing after that is official yet, but a new pair of winter limiteds has arrived every December for four years running.
Is Rapunzel: Sanctuary Free?
Yes. Every Commander can claim her during the 4th Anniversary. One copy comes from the login event, and up to three more come from 4th Anniversary Nikke Selection Boxes, for a total of four. That is enough to fully limit break her, though you can also pick an older anniversary unit from the boxes instead.
What Time Do NIKKE Banners End in My Region?
Most banners end at 4:59 AM Korea time on the listed date, which is the day before for most players outside Asia. Daylight saving has also ended in the UK (October 25) and ends in the US on November 1. So a banner ending at 4:59 AM Korea time on November 19, for example, would close at 11:59 AM PT, 2:59 PM ET, or 7:59 PM in the UK on November 18. Belorta is an exception: her banner closes at 11:59 PM Korea time on October 28, which is 7:59 AM PT the same day.
What Happens to Guilty and Sin After Their Banners End?
The catch was the Mileage Shop. Once a banner ends, you can no longer exchange Gold Mileage for that Nikke, and both windows have now closed. Neither is gone for good, though. After their banners, both move to the standard pool in a version update.
Will X-Ludmilla and X-Maiden Rerun Again This Winter?
It is not a safe bet. X-Maiden did return last December, but X-Ludmilla skipped the 2025 winter reruns and only came back in September. Since both just had a rerun, SHIFT UP may give this winter's rerun slots to newer holiday units instead.
Do Collab Nikkes Ever Rerun?
Some do, but not on a fixed schedule. The Evangelion units returned in early 2025, and 2B and A2 from NieR came back that summer. EVE and Raven from Stellar Blade reran in May 2026. Others, like the Chainsaw Man and Re:ZERO units, have not returned yet, so a rerun seems to depend on the partner.
📖Recommended Reading
Grab free Gems and vouchers with the latest NIKKE codes
See which Nikkes are worth building in our NIKKE tier list
Planning pulls in Genshin too? Follow the latest Genshin banner leaks
