#Arknights tactician vanguards

[nyantodamax145]

So imagine that for their module Tactician Vanguards and their summons also get the Charger Vanguard Trait but for Vigil Specifically alongside a big stat increase for his wolves the more wolf heads he has the more DP he generates per kill

I am huffing copium

[seijatachiis]

had to do a separate post for amiya <3

so obviously i only e2'd amiya bc i had to for that one map but i learned i really liked using guard amiya! i wont bother masteries on caster bc even tho i didnt have eyja early on, i just? never really used amiya. absinthe was my go-to caster. but she is the protag or main chara w/e you wanna call it so i felt i had to do a bit more investment, esp if im playing 5s more. i dont regret! i just wish we could get her space skin... (and id love planter amiya bc i saw someone on reddit suggest greenknights bc its not a common colour used.... and id love to try personally)

also leaks mention in tags

[ferrocyan]

FFXIV ask game, 9, 19, and 28!

ill answer from the bottom

28. i dont rly have a full-baked idea for this but tbh id love a crossbow phys ranged. i want something like arknights tactician vanguard so its like a summoner but with an automaton instead of carbuncle. "thats just machinist" yes but without the 286463829928469 weaves in the burst window bc Fuck That

19. favorite villain: zenos and fandaniel. zenos has been perfect since stormblood but him and fandaniel together are so fucking funny and delightful i love you dannyyyyy

9. favorite song aghhhh ive already said dedicated to moonlight i want something else. triumph, the stormblood boss theme. it gets me so pumped and gives me so much joy

maybe the worm's tail is better though

that's ingame songs but we cannot forget the primals. amatsu kaze band version is the goat

honorable mentions to scream and exponential entropy and a long fall (I WANT TO INCLUDE THIS BUT YOU SHOULD EXPERIENCE IT FIRSTHAND DO THE DUNGEON IN THE CRYSTARIUM WHEN YOU UNLOCK IT OKAY. OKAY!!) shadowbringers theme. the eternal wind motif in that song is what hope sounds like. all of pandaemonium music there were no misses in that raid series. primals honorable mention to metal: brute justice version TRUMPETS RULE SOKEN UR THE BEST okay i need to stop i dont even like music that much

[axenyan]

🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Just a very random and self-indulgent headcanon of Tokyo Debunker bois if they were Arknights operators. This is purely my personal opinion, but I'm also open for discussion 👁️👁️👌

I'm putting the references here in case you want to see what class does what.

Race: link

Class: link

Frostheim

🐻‍❄️ Jin (ursus), liberator guard. Bro will afk together with uncle Mlynar.

🐟 Tohma (ægir), dreadnought guard. Orca and dreadnought guard, this is just Skadi 🤣

🐧 Kaito (liberi), deadeye sniper bc bro is strong but has long atk interval.

🐶 Luca (perro), lord guard. I was thinking of giving him dualstrike (swordmaster) guard, but IIRC his stigma creates a shield? Lord guard is known for their ranged dmg, but there is also a lord guard who can kind of "protect" himself (Thorns).

Vagastrom

🐶 Alan (perro), dreadnought guard.

🦝 Sho (anaty), this is tough bc there is no motorcycle as a weapon in AK (yet)... I guess he can go as arts protector defender.

🐈 Leo (feline), geek specialist because I want to see his HP depletes over time that class is just... very Leo. I'm also thinking of ambusher specialist, but I prefer geek specialist.

Jabberwock

🦊 Haru (vulpo), tactician vanguard. He can deploy Peekaboo(s) on the ground.

🐐 Towa (caprinae), splash caster. Bro and Passenger will make thunderstorms.

🦈 Ren (ægir), executor specialist because I know he doesn't like being in the battlefield for too long. Good luck taking all the damages tho 😁 //smacked.

Sinostra

🐯 Taiga (feline), marksman sniper.

🦚 Romeo (liberi), artilleryman sniper. Bro does AoE dmg with his explosion.

🐶 Ritsu (perro), phalanx caster. Was thinking of juggernaut defender (like Penance!), but he looks more like a ranged unit than melee unit. His stigma does make him a defender of some sort, though. Fortunately, there is a ranged class that can also absorb dmg because of how tanky they are when their skill is not active, and that is phalanx caster 😋

Also....lawyer...defend....defende(

Hotarubi

🐓 Subaru (liberi... I use chicken emoji but hes supposed to be a crane jdjdjdjd), charger vanguard.

🦊 Haku (vulpo), decel binder supporter.

🐟 Zenji (ægir), dollkeeper specialist. Bro doesn't retreat when receiving lethal damage, and will be replaced by a "clone." I think he can also be a bard supporter.

Obscuary

🦇 Edward (sarkaz), hm... Thinking of ritualist supporter or primal caster. When I see him, I can only think of elemental damage for some reason 😭

🐶 Rui (perro), reaper guard.

🐺 Lyca (lupo), arts fighter guard.

Mortkranken. This dorm feels arknightsy already 😭

🐹 Yuri (zalak), harmacist-- I mean incantantion medic 😇

🦕 Jiro (vouivre), centurion guard bc bro is swinging a chainsaw around.

[rimeiii]

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it despite my fear of getring backlash:

I am not a fan with how WHB handles the usage of Solomon's Tears.

(Rant post, feel free to skip over, rest under the cut. I just needed to get this out of my chest.)

Thank god they've made a statement about the availability of Tears, but in my opinion, their way of handling this is the equivalent of slapping a bandaid on a gaping wound - it fails to address the root of the issue that's making Tears such a necessary material in the first place, it being several aspects of the game design.

There have been several design choices that confuse me when it comes to WHB, which I would chalk up to WHB being PB's very first game that purely isn't otome. But these design choices often involve game balancing issues, which for me personally directly impacts my enjoyment of the game. And it is these design choices that immediately impact the need for Tears, and why the initial update changing the availability of these Tears sparked so much controversy.

But before that, I have some menial complaints that can be chalked up to me being spoiled by other games. First of all, the large amounts of filler stages, while normal for a gacha, still doesn't make it a fun experience to play through - especially when there are barely any changes to the stage layouts. The only reason why Plants vs Zombies were able to do this is because of the way their stages are set up:

Stages 1, 3, 6, and 8 introduce a new mechanic/zombie

Stages 2, 4, 7, and 9 are harder stages that test what you knew from the previous stage

Stage 5 is a minigame stage

Stage 10 is a conveyor belt boss stage

Every stage gives you a new plant, oftentimes one that is relevant to the new mechanic/zombie at play/about to be introduced (for example, Puff Shrooms upon ending 1-10, a 0 Sun plant with shorter range that helps in earlygame because the next world is nighttime, which means no Sun from the sky)

As for the other TD games in the market? Arknights has different maps for each story stage. So does Path to Nowhere, from what I recall. If there are filler stages, they're very few and far in between. It's why Granblue Fantasy changed their story chapters to no longer have a solo battle at each segment - it hinders the storytelling.

One of the most baffling things in my opinion is the fact that the game has the same upgrade requirements for all units regardless of rarity. This is such a weird design choice for me because in most games, lower rarities are cheaper when it comes to upgrade costs.

For comparison's sake, some screenshots I took for promoting S and A+ ranks.

Belial, an S-rank Marksman, requires 22k Gold, 22k Books, 10 Tears, and 22 Fire Jellybeans.

It's the same for the A+ Healer Morax, save for the elemental jelly beans which is changed to his element, Light. And this is the same amount needed for upgrading L characters as well.

This design choice isn't particularly good, in my opinion. It bottlenecks players and puts them in a mindset position of "upgrading anything apart from Ls and some choice S/A+ ranks is a resource sink". It makes people think that building anything except the strongest of units isn't worth it, which in turn renders the existence of lower rarity/weaker units moot, especially considering the scarcity of the Tears in the first place. Because why would you raise them if you're going to gain more of an advantage from building these high-rarity units? You're going to get a more immediate and significant power boost by upgrading Ls in the first place.

This is even more pronounced in WHB specifically because in most gachas, lower rarity units tend to require less to upgrade. Take a look at the E2 requirements of three Tactician Vanguards in Arknights, in which Elite upgrades are the closest approximation to promotion in WHB.

Beanstalk is the lowest rarity of the archetype at 4*, and her E2 material requirements consist of two types of tier 3 materials (Coagulating Gel and Manganese Ore, both with blue borders), Vanguard Chip Packs, and LMD.

Then you have the 5* Blacknight, whose material requirements now include a tier 4 material (Incandescent Alloy Block, with a pink border) in addition to a tier 3 material (Loxic Kohl), Vanguard Dualchips (crafted from Vanguard Chip Packs and Chip Catalysts, both of which are farmable regardless), and more LMD.

And finally, the 6* Vigil, whose material requirements are now a tier 5 material (Crystalline Electronic Unit, with a yellow border) and a tier 4 material (Optimized Device), more Vanguard Dualchips (4 to Blacknight's 3), and even more LMD.

Yet in other games, I don't mind raising lower rarity units - for several reasons, depending on the game. In Granblue Fantasy (despite my complaints about how quickly the meta evolves and how lim-centric it is), SR units serve as the stopgap for party comps until you can fill out your roster with SSR characters, and some of these SR characters still see use like Lyria. In other games like Fire Emblem Heroes, Memento Mori, and Princess Connect: ReDive, all units gain the potential to hit the highest rarity - I have a Yukari (originally a 1* unit) ready to hit 6* in PriConne, while I have a +9 merged 5* Fallen Takumi (farmable unit at 3*/4* base) in FEH. Arknights' case is more nuanced, where it's partly the same case as GBF, but also the fact that lower rarity units can fit into niches that high rarity units don't fill.

With these other games, I never feel like raising a lower rarity unit is a waste of resources. The costs of uncapping characters in general is negligible in GBF, except for the Eternals and the Evokers - those of which are reasonably time-gated because of their sheer meta impact and how strong they are compared to all other characters. Except for particularly egregious cases like Tsukinogi, every single Arknights Operator has their uses, and they often see use in Integrated Strategies.

And let's not get into the debacle that are skill levels, because of course you need more materials for that. I don't mind having high costs for optimizing skills - Masteries in Arknights works like that, after all. Pictured below is the cost of M3-ing Bagpipe's third skill.

That's right - a tier 5 (Bipolar Nanoflake) and tier 4 (Oriron Block) material. And luckily, you can farm for all of these skill upgrade materials outside of events, crafting the higher tiers as necessary. There is less opportunity cost for me to E2 my 4* and 5* units because I can just farm the materials again anyways - and even then I some Masteries on these units are amazing. S1M3 Myrtle (4*) is probably the best DP generator in the game, while S2M3 Lappland (5*) also helps with her skill uptime.

Then you go back to WHB's skill upgrades, which mind you is also the same cost between rarities, and guess what else you need?

Yep. Tears. A ludicrous amount of it, considering its availability. And let's not even get into the Tears required for the Unholy Board, if that matters to you (and it does, because it also gives buffs for your L units).

This skews the game balance towards the L units even more. Ideally you'd be raising skill levels once your units reach high levels, because everything is percentage based and the lower your base stats, the lower effect these skill levels have on your skills. But that just means you'll still need Tears because, well, you still need to promote. And remember the opportunity cost again, because all rarities have the same skill upgrade cost, further incentivizing you building Ls and ignoring everything else.

It's ridiculous.

And the added nail in the coffin: the reduced rewards that basically halved the amount of Tears you get.

I seriously, genuinely hope they take the availability of Solomon's Tears as well as game balancing into consideration when performing the next balance patch. Because otherwise, I can't see this game being an enjoyable experience for me moving forward.

Unless, this was the intended way the game was designed, in which I just...I have no more words to say.

[armoredisopod]

Arknights CN 4th Anniversary PVs

New Operators

Melanite, 5* Heavyshooter Sniper

Please check the status of your weapons again to avoid any mishaps on the battlefield.

Silence the Paradigmatic, 6* Welfare Abjurer Supporter

We should explore the meaning of combat, not just let it happen.

Ho'olheyak, 6* Core Caster

Doctor, are you really going to waste your time alone with me, preaching about Rhodes Island's rules and regulations?

Muelsyse, 6* Limited Tactician Vanguard

Rhine Lab, Director of the Ecology Department, Muelsyse, but i don't think there should be such a formal greeting between us, Doctor.

Friston-3, 1* Protector Defender

Greetings, my name is Friston. And yes, "Friston", not "Friston-3".

Operator Skins Update

Total of 9 new skins, 6 new additions for the Bloodline of Combat brand and 3 new additions for the Ambiance Synesthesia brand

Bloodline of Combat

Orchid's Twines of Time - Free Login Event skin

Ebenholz's Eine Variation

Specter the Unchained's Born As One - L2D Skin

Ch'en the Holungday's Ten Thousand Mountains - L2D skin

Kal'tsit's Remnant - L2D + Special Voicelines skin

Justice Knight's Tournament Fantasy Retrofit Kit - Event Reward skin

Ambiance Synesthesia

Irene's Voyage of Feathers

Lumen's Golden Dream

Roberta's Granter of Colors

Announced skin reruns

W, Rosmontis, Nearl the Radiant Knight's Epoque skins

Mountain, Eunectes, Ayerscarpe and Flint's Bloodline of Combat skins

Series I & II Ambiance Synesthesia skins

~74 skins as part of 4th Anniversary Celebration edition of Rhodes Fashion Review

Operator Modules Update

Melanite and Ho'olheyak being part of branches with modules immediately gets their modules

ARC-Y module base effect increases Melanite's ATK to 105% and allows her to ignore Physical dodge when attacking enemies directly ahead

CCR-X module base effect allows Ho'olheyak to ignore 10 RES

Hexer Supporter and Flinger Sniper branches gets 1 module type each

W and Kal'tsit gets their second modules

ART-Y module base effect allows W to ignore 100 DEF

PHY-Y module base effect increases Kal'tsit's healing effectiveness by 15% when healing units on melee tiles

Events and Stories

Lonetrail, a Rhine Lab side story event

Misc Stuff

CN regional dialect voices for Lee, Aak, Waai Fu and Hung (though for some reason the PV claims there are 11 new additions)

Suzuran, Ayerscarpe, Click and Friston-3 added to recruitment

2 new main menu screen backgrounds, Laterano and Rhine Lab

Livestream Stuff

Showcased Muelsyse being a 6* Tactician Vanguard utilizing a special reinforcement unit that you can deploy on melee and ranged tiles, her reinforcement also comes with a unique skill that lets you deploy any operator on it to clone (most of) the op's base stats and applies unique properties depending on whether the operator copied was melee or ranged, her 2nd and 3rd skills play into this and have different skill effects depending on what mode the reinforcement is in

Showcased Ho'olheyak being a 6* Core Caster that reduces the weight of enemies in her range and utilizes Levitate, her 2nd skill is a rapid-fire arts burst with a chance to Levitate enemies and her 3rd skill makes her attack by sending tornadoes down her attack range and Levitating the first enemy it hits + dealing massive arts damage

Showcased Silence the Paradigmatic being a 6* Abjurer Supporter that gives a Sanctuary effect without any HP prerequisite and the effect becomes stronger the lower the ally's HP is + has a talent that automatically heals allies below a certain HP threshold, her 2nd skill allows use of a drone that can give a stronger Sanctuary effect and her 3rd skill allows the first ally that takes lethal damage in her range during skill duration to survive and their HP will not go below 1 for several seconds

Showcased the event mechanic, adjustable artificial gravity that can affect enemy movement speed and ally operators ASPD depending on the direction it's set to and gravity-affected spheres that can block enemy pathing and ram into enemies, the spheres can be pushed by operators dealing enough hits to it or by operators applying Push to it

Showcased the new gamemode Pinch-Out, Experimental Operation

A different take on the difficulty-select challenge gamemode, you can choose contracts of varying difficulty that are placed on a branching path with rewards scattered throughout the paths, certain rewards are only unlocked by clearing all connected contracts or paths required

After completing a run you can start the next run from certain "checkpoint" nodes instead of starting over from the original starting point

The gamemode has daily maps and missions for rewards

Laterano lore video narrated in Latin, showing the history of Laterano's founding and racial conflict, which then cuts to a room filled with unknown technology, a teaser for the next Laterano event

An introductory video for potential surveyors of the Infy Icefields, the video advises people to go through Sami due to ongoing Ursus-Columbia disputes then elaborates on Sami's geography, culture and society. A teaser for IS4: Expeditioner's Jöklumarkar

Showcased a few of IS4's new content

Temperature which presumably replaces IS3's light levels mechanic

Collectable rune tablets that can be combined to gain buffs and special effects, for example the ability to change nodes ahead of you

Ability to scout upcoming nodes with a special device to peek at the contents, the device can break which will prevent you from seeing what the upcoming nodes are at all

Interference in the form of elements and weather that can disrupt your exploration

Teased the next summer event to be located in Siesta after the events of Heart of Surging Flame, with a title "Wanderland"

Showed teasers for more episodes of the Ceobe mini-series in progress and LDA anime

Showed a teaser for a new comic series centered around Angelina and her travels across Terra

Arknights anime adaptation 2nd season: Perish in Frost teaser

Talked about the Terra settings/world building art book and the Arknights Vol. 2 art book, which comes with an exclusive Planter skin for 3* Lava

Showed art for an Arknights tabletop game, planned to release Late 2023

Showed teasers for collabs with ANTA Sneaker and China Aerospace Science

Announced that Rhodes Kitchen Tidbits and Rhine Lab - Records of Originium will get physical book forms

Ended off the livestream with an animation starring the Rhine Lab cast, from the founding of the company to Saria and Kirsten's parting

Destiny 2 collab teaser, said to be a story collection event and will have collab exclusive skins

[stelladess]

As a fun thought experiment I have been thinking about how to cut the subclasses for each class in Arknights down to 3 each, just for fun. But then I went down the rabbit hole of how to adjust operators to account for their subclass no longer existing.

I am willing to elaborate on any of my reasonings but I will not write all of it in this post because it was just a fun thought experiment that will never affect anything and reading all my reasoning might be kinda boring. With that said;

Caster: Mech-Accord, Phalanx, Mystic Defender: Protector, Guardian, Sentinel Guard: Swordmaster, Lord, Crusher Sniper: Marksman, Hunter, Artilleryman Medic: Incantation, "Surgeon" (formerly medic), Chain Specialist: Shifter (cheated and merged hookmasters and push-strokers), Ambusher, Alchemist (mostly to account for other cuts) Supporter: Decel-Binder, Hexer, Artificer Vanguard: Agent, Tactician, Flag-Bearer

Wont go into all of them but essentially I wanted the classes to have less direct overlap so all guards with 3 block are out. I also wanted to avoid enmity operators so medics are always valuable. Core caster is out cause it doesnt really do anything particularily interesting and not all classes have a baseline subclass. For example guards and specialists both lack that. Vanguards I cut pioneers to keep the divisions between the melee classes clearer, one could make an argument for keeping them over tacticians since now with some of the cheapest guard variants out of the way pioneers might be more valuable, I would agree with that but I wanted to keep a summoner type and was not gonna keep summoner, maybe trade artificers for summoners if so. Another possible adjustment is dropping flag-bearers for pioneers though. Chargers were never really on the table since their skills dont make DP. Keeping agents made dropping merchants and executors an obvious choice. Guards I agonized over whether to go for crushers or earthshakers but honestly crushers are just better designed and they have overlap with dreadnoughts too so it is kind of like keeping both dreadnoughts and centurions but not really.

For some of the operators the changes I had in mind, also in this hypothetical I imagine class changing is just a thing instead of alters and that everyone is somewhere in between a 5 star and 6 star (two talents and 3 skills but probably lower in power to average 6 star power) because if I had to think about how to maximize profitability for this fun thought experiment id actually bore myself out.

Anyway some of the changes. Guardmiya is obviously a swordmaster since she copied Ch´en´s techniques. This of course means a more burst reliant playstyle so she doesnt get the on skill buff stats more thing, instead one talent prolly just keeping emotion eater and one being that she has some dodge chance. To still convey her team player aspects one of her skills would apply arts fragility and one regular fragility.... last one? Fear. Fear is honestly a debuff that feels like designed for Amiya with how we see her use her powers in some chapters but it was made after that point so she will never get it probably, unless she gets a hexer variant down the line or something. Which id be all for.

Wis´adel is now a mech-accord caster, I do like her summons but I couldnt think of how to neatly make them fit a mech accord caster kit so her first talent with the afterimages is basically the same but her second talent is that she has some dodge chance and that enemies with a drone locked on has reduced accuracy (the drones are obviously the ancestor launchers).

Surtr is now a crusher because her sword is comically huge. She still gets her "nu-uh I dont die" talent but since she no longer only does arts damage she loses the res ignore for instead getting a stacking atk and defense buff based on how low her health gets.

Blaze was the hardest to figure out of the ones I cared to think about, in the end I decided she is a swordmaster (still uses a chainsaw though) because it felt appropriate for Blaze to require violence for maximum effect. This does ironically make her go from the afk operator to ability spam but I think it fits her well.

Ifrit and Rosmontis are both alchemists but for different reasons. Rosmontis cause alchemists have a lot in common with flingers anyway and flingers are gone now. Ifrit because I couldnt think of how to convey her flamethrower so eventually I decided she instead throws flaming canisters.

Anyway this does not really matter, I felt like writing it down because I have been thinking about this a lot. Feel free to ask about anything with this idea, or to theorycraft your own takes on how some operators would be adjusted to account for these changes. Or to question my choices of what subclasses I decided to keep. Or just ask for clarification on the reasoning.

[marahuyos]

Arknights 4th Anniversary Summary

First part of the stream is that they showed old concept art of the game as well as the concepts for NPCs, the setting, Closure and Kal'tsit etc. I recommend reading more into this once there are translations bc its so interesting to see the thought process behind the world of arknights!!

01 | New Sidestory

Rhine Lab focused event where they appear to focus on the evolution of Terra (and might go even to space??? Endfield moment????)

New stage mechanics where you play catch with a hyper realistic eye that acts as a roadblock

elevator mechanic????

02 | New Operators

6* Tactician Vanguard Muelsyse

Places a blob that doesnt take deployment space and has no melee/upper tile restrictions

It appears that it copies the stats and range of the operator so for example, if you place down a Fartooth, the summon gets her range and her stats as well.

One of her skills makes her make 3 more summons and they can shift(?)

6* Core Caster Ho'olheyak'

Can levitate enemies like Irene but she can also silence them

Her Skill 2 is like Amiya s2 except she randomly levitates and silences 2 enemies

Skill 3 makes her have sniper range and summons three tornadoes per lane.

6* Welfare Abjurer Silence the Paradigmatic

Talent 1: All allies in range have shelter, the lower their HP, the higher the effect

Talent 2: Allies in range with low HP will gain regen, effect doubled for rhine lab operators

Skill 1: ATK up

Skill 2: ASPD up, can summon a drone that enhances talent 1, will self destruct when skill ends

Skill 3: ATK up, talent 1 enhanced, when an operator in range tales lethal dmg, instead keep their HP at 1 for a few secs Can only use a few times per battle, can manually turn off

5* Heavyshooter Sniper Melanite

No known info

03 | New Skins

New Bloodline of Combat skins for Orchid, Ebenholz, Specter Alter, Ch'en Alter, Kal'tsit, Justice Knight

Live2D skins for Spalter, Chalter and Kal'tsit, with kal'tsit being 24 due to new voicelines

04 | Other major updates

Operator module update for Hexer ops (Gnosis, Pramanix, Shamare), Melanite, Rosmontis, Greyy Alter, Ho'olheyak', W, Kal'tsit

Implementation plan for Lee's detective agency ops

New game mode (no translated info as of yet)

apparently its contract-based??? def not the new cc update

New robot Defender Friston-3

Integrated Strategies 4

Based on the Northern Regions of Sami, the least known region in the Arknights lore and the place where actual demons reside in

Santalla might be potentially be the welfare op

These nordic runes might be used to get foresight on the paths???

New boss

Banner update

Basically a wishlist where all operators before Phantom can be chosen. You can ONLY GET the 6* and 5* ops that you've picked.

This banner gives blue certificates which able to get you a specific headhunting pass for this banner as well as buying the ops themselves (note the shopping cart icon on ceobe and astesia)

Destiny 2 Collab

05 | Merch, Anime, etc.

Official Arknights Terra Concept book

Second Artbook (get a free Lava the Purgatory skin if you bought it)

Tabletop game??? Apparently its a collab with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

1/7 scale figures for Kal'tsit, Summer Surtr, Summer Mudrock

Choearth figures and Popmart figures for Amiya

Arknights anime continuation of Episodes 4-6 (misha and frostnova :)))))))

[valence-e]

Dp is an interesting concept in Arknights because it kinda has a loose ludo narrative meaning but seems to say consistent within each Vanguard subclass, except I have no idea what the Charger DP generation is supposed to represent.

Agents are the easiest, they're all spie types so DP represent them getting more info on the enemy.

Flag Bearers help with communication/squad co-hesion, Elysium directly improves comms and Myrtyle/Saileach provide moral boosts and/or a rally point.

Pioneers generally are squad leaders eg Flametail/Texas/Fang/Siege, there are exceptions like Pontificus and Saga but I think their DP gen represents them giving orders so the squad can act more tactility.

Tacticians are kind of weird, they could just represent them ordering their summons around tho Beanstalks guys are trained to help logistics and Muesylye is known to do spy stuff so DP could represent something lile that for them.

Chargers are the weird one, I don't know if there is a Ludonarrative explanation for their FP gain. Bagpipe/Wildmane/Grani probably have the most in common in the group and they seem to be the just Charge in First and fuck up the enemy type, but it's not like they're getting info while doing it. At a stretch it could be distrusting the enemy tactics so boosting your own or something?

[wistfulvulpine]

i'm going to scream and cry and hyperventilate and throw up

Arknights is finally broaching the topic of space travel (reminder the sky is. fake.) AND SILENCE ALTER IS THE WELFARE??????????

NEW OPS:

Silence the Paradigmatic (6* abjurer supporter w/increased support for Rhine Lab ops + s3 can prevent fatal damage a certain number of times per battle)

Ho'olheyak (6* core caster w/weight reduction like Angelina + levitation RNG)

Muelsyse (6* LIMITED tactician vanguard w/initial dp reduction for Rhine Lab ops)

Melanite (5* heavyshooter sniper)

MUMU'S TALENT 1 CAN SUMMON A COPY OF AN OPERATOR NOT DEPLOYED WITH THEIR STATS + DAMAGE TYPE?!?!?!? (clone can be deployed on melee AND ranged tiles)

SKINS:

Kal'tsit (Live2D w/additional voicelines like Passenger = 24 OP)

Ch'en the Holungday (Live2D)

Ebenholz

Specter the Unchained (Live2D)

Orchid (free)

Justice Knight (free from Pinch-Out)

we will also get a new 1* defender robot and new Experimental Operation: Pinch Out!

FUTURE EVENT PREVIEWS:

Laterano (PV showed a glimpse of The Law + names like Lemuen)

Sami & Infy Icefield (Santalla revealed in preview)

IS4 on the expedition through Sami (temperature system + device that will debuff you if broken)

Summer event (Wanderland - returning to Siesta)

Destiny 2 collab teased

[arkiwii]

Rambling about Il Siracusano event - a subjective review

Il Siracusano event having been out for an entire week now, and with the survey Yostar gave us about the event, I would like to ramble a bit about the event and what I thought of it; of course, this is mainly going to be something subjective, so not many might agree with it, feel free to give out your opinions in reblogs/comments! I'm very open with it, no problems at all!

So, warning, small spoilers about the event, long post and probably bad english, I'm doing my best

What I liked about the event

Map design and layout

Of course, I think this is very original to have a direct map of Siracusa as a field of exploration, and more than all, having not only the stages, but different places; it really makes Siracusa feel real, realistic, almost like a real city, rather than "just some stage levels"

Some events have been pretty original with their map, like Maria Nearl's map looking like a tournament, or Mansfield Break looking like the prison's design, or the amazing Stulifera Navis's map, but none were as elaborate as Il Siracusano

We can see a lot of worldbuilding and originality from it, and it's very pleasing to see! The only small downside I can see is that when we first open the event's stages, there's no indication to where to start - of course, by looking around and clicking on everything, we can find our path, but it's slightly overwhelming at the first glance and we feel a bit lost

Characters and story

No surprise, Arknights characters are very attaching as always, and even side NPCs have been really amazing in it, may it be Giovanna, Sicilla, Agenir, but even less remarkable characters like Danbrown and Ben - who thought an event would have made me feel attached for a carwasher guy? The little side quests where we follow each of the main's characters in the city was really interesting, because we could experiment their point of view and life outside of the main story, making them feel human and alive

The whole story about the influence that the famiglias occupy in the city, making it an anarchy where each decide their own rules, and the only law being the one brought by the Judges, yet their power is still meaningless, was really great

It really takes us away from our sense of morales by showing us a place where crimes are casual, and a day without blood flowing sounds like more of a surprise than a day without; the characters all have a different way to react to this life, some decide to live with it without complaining, some decide to oppose to it, and some prefer to go away

I rarely pay attention to events stories, at least, not if I'm not interested in the characters; Texas and Lappland being not the characters that I'm the most attached to, I could have just ignored it, but yet I still felt taken in the story

Side note to la Critica Artistica, some reviews are truly funny and the winks to the event's main story are awesome

Rewards and event shop

Are you telling me there is a stage with guaranteed orirock clusters? For real?!

The entire's event rewards are truly great, may it be the rewards given by the side quests or the event's shop, we really have nothing to complain about - we literally can get 600k LMD from the shop alone, not given all the LMD given by the side quests as well; this event allowed me to promote three six-stars in a single day

And of course, not to mention the free six-stars operator given out, Vigil, even if a Tactician Vanguard is not the most ideal in the gameplay, and apparently the character is not the best gameplay wise, it's still a good gift for new players

What I did not liked in the event

Complicated dialogues and foreign language

Of course, a common criticism about Arknights in general is how complicated it is to understand what is going on; the whole plot often revolves around politics and other complicated subjects, it's difficult to grab a hand on what is being told if we don't have a basic knowledge on the subject

While the event was slightly easier to understand, some details went above my head easily, - but it could be fault to the fact that I am not a native English speaker and also cursed with ADHD - the dialogues were still very long and if it's not about the characters we care about, we quickly lose interest or barely read it; you know the rules, thirty or fourty minutes of cutscenes, and in the end, not even five minutes of gameplay

Not mentioning the characters using Italian terms; it's not the first time that characters use their native language in a media, Pokémon and Disney movies being good examples, but there is a fine line between "using local expressions time by time" and "using key terms in this language" - I have to thank myself for being French, since the languages are quite similar, I could guess what some words meant, but sometimes I really had no clues. Having important terms like Il Signore dei Lupi can be confusing, and we miss some important points or small details, and not many enjoy playing with a translator open near them

Complicated politic talk is already confusing, complicated politic talk in another language is even more confusing; I think it's an important role of a translator to know how much they should remove, and how much they should keep, to have dialogues that we can understand while showing the cultural references used behind

Way too easy

I'm not a new player, nor an old player, I already have a bunch of six-stars, and very good ones, and Elite 2 characters; but for having done almost all Side Stories/Intermezzo in the course of the last weeks, I can definitely tell that even at my level and with the units I used, some were seriously challenging, and I'm not talking about the ex stages, but the main ones

Yet, I have never seen an event as easy as Il Siracusano; the new enemies were nothing challenging, sure, the debt progress was an original adding, but the challenge was not that complicated - not only there is no downsides in letting civils die (while in other events, you would lose a life point), but the enemy that appears when the debt is full is not that bothersome. It could be for the first stages, but later, with a good defender and good healing, it can be really easy to counter it

And here comes the final stage and boss; annihilated. I never cleared a boss stage this fast ever, and I had no help or anything, it was all improvised and a surprise - I don't even know what the final boss's ability was, as I killed him before he could even use it, and no support unit were used

Of course, there is a true debate about if the main stages of an event should be easy or complicated; on one hand, if they're too complicated, new players will struggle to finish the event, or even not finish it at all in due time, and even old players might have to use a guide or playthrough to know what to do; but on the other hand, if it's too easy, old players will find no pleasure in playing the stages, and with the dialogues being way too long, it really is "95% of cutscene, 5% of gameplay"

I think it's something that the game still has to work on it; of course, I would like to have stages I can clear without having to use Deus ex Ch'alter and our Savior Kyo, but I would like them to be challenging enough to not clear them in a blink of an eye; it's a true balance that still needs to be found, something not as complicated as SN-10, but not as simple as IS-10, and finding balance in a gacha - so a game with a lot of units, each with their own abilities and strength, and allow every player to be able to use who they like - is the most challenging

What I would love to see in the future

"Showcase" stages of new operators

A very good idea that I loved in An Obscure Wanderer was the stages with given operators, and more than all, Mlynar himself; it was a very good introduction for the players to directly test out the new operator's ability, and if it was not for these stages, I would not have been convinced to roll for him

May it be Texalter, Penance, Vigil and Lunacub, we did not had any stages where we could use the operator or see them in battle directly; not a lot of players might feel comfortable enough to test out the character as a support unit, since it's a bit "testing new waters", and three new six-stars can feel imposing

But I feel like if there's some special stages - those "tutorial stages" that costs no sanity, and with no rewards, or at most just one Originite Prime, would help to test the true potential of the character in a given stage where the operator would have a perfect niche, to help the player how to use them, but also to convince them to roll the character

Lore guide and event sum-up

For people who have a hard time focusing on the dialogues and just what is going on in general, I think that a lore guide and sum-up for each event would be truly useful; quite like the small lore hints given in Chapter 10 and 11, but more elaborate, probably without rewards, but a new page at each stage and cutscene cleared

The lore guide could introduce each characters with their name, role, affiliation, and small profile, an introduction to the place where the event take place, and a sum-up of the important events and key points of the event, in an easy language; and why not use this guide to translate/explain cultural references used in the event? It could be interesting, not only to educate us, but also it would allow to have characters speak in their native language without making it hard to understand since there'll be an explanation given

Alright, so that's it with all I can come up with! I have no idea how pertinent it is to put my review and opinions on Tumblr, cause the chances that a personal of Yostar comes by are very low, but we never know!

[seijatachiis]

i know the arknights community is like split on alters but i liked them. well i liked alters for lore reasons. when we started getting more popular charas or higher rarity ogs to alters i got a lil annoyed. i liked when it was lower rarities the 3s and 4s.

so i could tell you my thoughts on every alter and if i thought it was good or not but thats for another day. i will tell you why and what kind of alter i want for all the 3s minus the ones who got one. just 3s to 5s, nothing crazier than that!

fang: i dont read lore but isnt she missing in action?? give her an alter to bring her back!! traumatized and broken... happy to finally see her friends again ;-; since the 3s alters we have all keep their class (and type until hibiscus) she will still be a vanguard. probably keep the same class type but i feel like maybe agent could work too! i just wanna know what happened to her :(

vanilla: i want lore for her so bad bc i just like her voice and design!!! keeping her in vanguard class BUT i want her to be a tactician! her love of animals and she works for blacksteel so can she use a gun or smth?? tho i love her axe...fuck...maybe keep her class type then for the cool axe or like an upgraded cooler axe?

plume: WHY SHE LEAVE LATERANO??? PLS TELL US??? shes trying to learn to use her axe better so probably stays a vanguard charger... i just wanna know why she left :(

ansel: hes an intern rn!! i wanna see him become doctor!! and i think he should keep 1) his chance to heal an extra ally and 2) is range extension! hes so precious. still a normal medic, just literally a 5s ver.

steward: my soft spot for white haired anime boys continue bc steward (and his bf adnachiel :( ). i like his unique talent of targetting enemies with the highest def so he should keep that! core caster, but hear me out - mystic caster. i just want a winter themed mystic caster whos charges are snowflakes :)

adnachiel: so like i know he what cant use a gun anymore bc hes infected right? but also like he sounds like he wants to use a gun :( let him use a gun :( insider kinda has his "unique talent" so its less important if he keeps that but since he seems to be really curious about RI equipment and whatnot, sniper but like maybe a flinger :0 we need more flingers!!

orchid: shes actually SO pretty and her skin was insane so i just wanna see more of her?? i cant really see her as the other support classes besides idol but we have enough 5s idols (4s idol WHEN!!!!) so i think she can stay as is. tho i think summoner could be funny (we need a new summoner for the lower rarities me thinks) but thats just bc i wanna see like lil mannequins with her clothes designs.

melantha: more than anything i want a melantha alter bc i think she grows up to be an elegant and graceful beauty like vivi or whisperain and i just want that so bad. but also bc trusty melantha...i want her to grow into herself! gain confidence and i just think everyone would just like her ;-; probably still a dreadnought but i could see musha because like the confidence to stand on her own maybe or smth honestly? liberator bc 1) why is it only men so far and 2) trusting in her teammates and supporting them as they supported her

beagle: isnt she like dead or smth? make her not dead. similar to melantha i want her to believe in herself more. class change to juggernaut or duelist i think! or honestly, fully lean into her tenacity and make her tankier than youd ever really need an op to be.

cardigan: ngl i kinda found her voice annoying but that newest skin is ADORABLE. make her a healer defender, sorry "guardian" . support her friends.

catapult: hate her like everyone else bc why the fuck is her voiceline so long i wanna move on already. besides that, her design is really nice actually so id like to lean into that i think. probably keep the aoe sniper but i want her to place bombs like W s2 i think

midnight: make him sluttier. ranged guard but like full tits out, hes trying to fuck the doctor so bad.

popukar: LORE????????????????????????? SHE SOUNDS SO INTERESTING PLEASE GIB HER LORE??????????????? the only exception i want her to be a specialist dollkeeper i think. but jk no we stay within the guard class but i think a change state like luo xiaohei! between evil popukar and nice popukar. or like when she unleashes her cool eye power.

spot: i hate spot. sorry thats not productive but i like the grants phys evasion so maybe lean into that, keeping as a guardian as well.

that was a long post and i defo got lazy but!! i just wanted alters for the 3s :(

[wanderin-rook]

Reruns are pretty interesting to see what changes to how I approach maps in Arknights, last run of Near Light I was using Kalsit every map, who still is E1 even now and I rarely use now as I still place my medics in positions where they get hit so she's not ideal and I didn't really recognise that then.

I also really liked Beanstalk who I now have decided to not use as I don't really use tacticians anymore, I always place the crabs in not ideal spots so I'd rather take Myrtle because hey standard bearers are really good and if I'm retreating the vanguard to place a guard or defender in the place I might as well have more DP.

I also was using defender Nearl as my main tank, because it's her event, and now Blemishine is, because it really should have been her event, also finally getting her goth outfit is a good excuse to use her.

[kindauglypikachuicon]

Here we go we have the long awaited Arknights’ Siracusan event, “Siracusan: IL Siracusano”

My body is ready for that awesome boss music sound track at the last story stage!!! ✨ I love it so much!!💕

Our free operator is a six-star tactician vanguard, Vigil, who is this really skinny looking wolf is what I thought when I first laid eyes on him lol (It made me want to draw a silly version of him)

[buldrokkastee]

They're really going to give us this motherfucker for free I've never been more fed in my life

[pagingdoctorbedlam]

Sure, I'll join the 5* hype train. Because one of the many things I love about Arknights is how any character has their place, and can become a team centerpiece with the right love and tactics. So let me gush about my faves:

Czerny, to no one's surprise, is on my team forever. But not just because I love him! A tank with high HP/Attack/Res, who can not only swap to doing Arts damage BUT also has an Arts Counter, WHILE ALSO buffing his own HP and Attack the more he gets hit?! And his skill ends in an AOE that even hits aerial units?!?! He is truly the most perfect boy.

Speaking of unkillable gods of Arknights: Beeswax. Let her tank all ranged hits. Let her AOE all your foes, and depending on the skill, also get them stuck with an extra blocker while she tears them apart. BEESWAX SUPREMECY.

Blacknight is still literally one of my most used Vanguards. Tactician vanguards are already so useful for being ranged while still having melee options, but her Slumberbeast is so strong, and either gets a self-heal buff OR puts opponents to sleep for Sleepy Bitch Squad strats.

Ptilopsis is still the best AOE healer, straight facts.

Do you know how useful April is, essentially being a ranged executor specialist with temporary invisibiity? Do you know how many annoying enemies she can save you from, especially with mods?!

Speaking of camo/invisibility/etc, Heavyrain can still cheese so many bosses with her skills. Plus, with mods, she can go up to Block 4? Do you know how nice that is?

Don't have Dorothy but still want trap shenanigans? Go get Robin from the Mansfield Break record restoration right now and let her fuck your enemies up. Bind or Push, both are useful and hilarious options.

"Lappland is useless because silence is useless now" INCORRECT. She still has range and high Arts damage for enemies that can't be silenced. And when you have enemies who can? Like, idk, Seaborn or the Ideal City drunks? You will be damn happy to have the Lapplesauce on your side.

I love and overuse my 6 stars as much as anyone, but legitimately, there are so many good 5 stars and they will save your ass time and time again. Raise them. Cherish them. Hold them tenderly through the night as thanks for all their hard work.

While I do think the average power of 5 stars has gone down in Arknights from launch (ive noticed many gacha games tend to have pretty great lower rarity chars on launch and then have more unimpressive ones later, I suspect to make up for the lack of higher rarity units on launch) I do think people often overlook pretty good 5 stars because they arnt 6 stars.

Especially if you think of them less as supposed to be on par with 6 stars as fill a role of a 6 star someone decided to skip because they cant afford to gacha every operator or have too few upgrade materials. Morgan is way better then she is usually given credit for, especially if you dont have stronger helidrop assassins like Texalter, Skadi or Nearlter. Firewhistle also has pretty insane AoE damage, it just pales in comparison to Horn. Cantabile is probably one of the best vanguards in the game even if Ines brings more to the table. Quercus healing is only slightly behind Lumen and Eyjaberry (this assumes you got modules for Qeurcus) while also giving good shelter. Kroos the Keen Glint is legit almost on par with the 6 stars of her archetype and you should go level her now, especially if you do not have Exusiai. And of course many older 5 stars are still really great, Ptilopsis, Texas, Amiya, Provenance, Warfarin, Specter, etc.