Roberta

Roberta is a Rhodes Island Operator. This is important to remind yourself, because she’s also a makeup-wielding otter cosmetologist who protects her allies with the power of well-deployed, high-technology vanity tables. What can I say? This is clearly the pinnacle of Rhodes Island recruitment. It’s all downhill from here, y’all.

Roberta is the first member of a new Supporter archetype: the Artificer Supporter, who deploys [Support Devices] to buff and aid her allies. She is a melee unit with Block-2 who deals Physical damage, and her specialty is increasing ally DEF and granting damage-blocking Shields with her stock of “Styler” vanity tables. Her Talent, Styler Debugging, gives Roberta a set amount of Stylers at the start of a battle, and she can deploy a Styler next to a melee ally (for 5 DP) to buff their DEF for several seconds and give them a layer(s) of Shield. The DEF buff does not stack, but you can deploy multiple Stylers on the same ally (DP and deployment space permitting) to grant multiple layers of Shield. Note that Roberta can only have up to three Stylers deployed on the field at a time.

Both of Roberta’s Skills are partially defensive in nature, but the rest of their effect varies greatly. Her S1, Syracuse-Style Makeup, increases Roberta’s ATK and DEF for the duration and has a surprisingly good uptime; unfortunately, it does not buff her stats enough to be competitive with dedicated offensive or defensive Operators. Instead, perhaps you’d be interested in her Automatic Styler S2, which causes Roberta to stop attacking in exchange for a larger DEF buff, Block count +1, and gaining an extra Styler to deploy! If you’re using Roberta primarily as a Shield dispenser (and you probably are), then Automatic Styler’s regeneration of her Styler collection is definitely the way to go. Keep in mind, however, that she only gains the Styler after the Skill duration has completed (and she can’t hold more than three at once), which means replenishing Stylers is a fairly slow process.

Roberta is an odd addition to the Arknights cast (and not just because she’s an over-the-top, otter-inspired, originality-obsessed beautician). Defensive strategies are not common in the current Arknights meta, and Roberta’s role is clearly defensive. Being a Physical melee unit with mediocre ATK and an average-at-best DP cost is not an advantageous position either. However, Roberta’s Shields can represent a strong tactical option, and being a defensive Blocker who isn’t a Defender could be useful in restricted conditions. Not every Operator is willing to work with the willful Roberta, but when you need a durable makeup job that won’t run in the rain (or in the sweat of battle), this mustelid maquillage mastermind has all the tools needed for a fabulous performance.