Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Ch'en and SilverAsh

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Ch'en SilverAsh
5★	Liskarm Swire Astesia

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be SilverAsh and ???.
• 6★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 6★
• 5★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 5★

If you want SilverAsh, yes. Otherwise, probably not.

Arknights has been shoving awesome banners at us one after another these past few weeks, and there’s still more to come (we haven’t even gotten Nian yet!) However, SilverAsh is one of the most broken Operators in the game. In fact, the most convincing reason not to pull him is that it can make the game too easy. So if you need a leg up for difficult content, this is the banner for you.

However, if you’re not interested in SilverAsh, this banner is less compelling. Swire is underpowered, and the other three Operators are quite strong but not really necessary in most situations. Unless your waifu is on this banner (and Ch’en is Queen Waifu for quite a few fans,) you can probably skip this one.

Even if you can’t spare much for this banner, it might be worthwhile to do Headhunt x1 until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Dualstrike Guard

+ Charges SP for allies with [Attacking Enemy] or [Getting Hit] SP charge types

+ Versatile DPS Skills that can cover many different situations

= High burst damage, but poor options for sustained DPS

- [Attacking Enemy] SP charge type means her Skills can be slow to charge in some situations 

- Her double-hit attacks are cool, but they suffer against enemies with high DEF

Ranged Guard

+ Can attack at range and hit aerial enemies

+ Reduces the redeploy time of allied Operators

+ Reveals invisible enemies within his attack range

+ S2 makes him into a serviceable off-tank

+ S3 is an instant-win button in most circumstances

- Long cooldown on S3… that’s about it

Support Guard

+ Longer attack range than most Guards, allowing her to attack from behind other Operators (but she can’t hit aerial enemies, so watch out for that)

+ Buffs ATK of all adjacent melee Operators; soups up her buffs using her Skills

+ Can Block-2, attacks quickly, and has a low DP cost compared to other Guards

= High DEF but low HP

- Both of her Skills require heavy investment or their duration is very short (and her S2 takes forever to charge)

- Only buffs melee units; placing several melee units within her range is difficult on some maps

Normal Defender

+ Has ranged attacks that can hit aerial enemies—very rare for a Defender

+ One of the few Normal Defenders with innate RES (thanks to her Talent)

+ Generates SP for adjacent allies when she is attacked

+ S1 is a powerful defensive tool, and S2 is a powerful offensive tool with Arts damage

- Has to choose between defense (S1) and offense (S2)

- S1 activates automatically and thus can’t be timed; S2 self-Stuns upon completion and thus can be dangerous

Arts Guard

+ As a melee Arts unit, she’s great for Challenge stages and the Contingency Contract event

+ Very survivable; both her Skills increase her DEF and she has innate RES

+ Turns into an AoE Arts Guard while her S2 is active

- Can be inefficient on stages where her niche of melee Arts damage isn’t important

- Mediocre base ATK and unimpressive ATK multipliers on her Skills (for her rarity)

Ch’en is beloved for her relevance to the main Arknights plot, but she’s also beloved for her prowess on the battlefield. Her multiple sword-based Skills are both flashy and highly effective, able to cut a variety of enemies to ribbons without sacrificing efficiency or flair.

This katana-wielding Lungmen official is certainly very strong, but some fans allow their love for her character to color their opinion of her battle performance a little too rosily. Ch’en pulls her weight on the battlefield, but she doesn’t dramatically outperform other Operators the way some units do (i.e., SilverAsh, to use an example from this same banner).

I don’t recommend pulling for Ch’en, but she’s well worth investing in if you pull her.

Ah, the legendary SilverAsh. If you’ve been active in the Arknights community for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the saga of SilverDaddyAsh. Whispered tales of enemy waves decimated, bosses annihilated, cities torn asunder, entire rival gacha games wiped off the face of the map… can SilverAsh possibly live up to the hype?

Yes.

I recommend pulling for SilverAsh.

Stylish, sophisticated, and so sharp-tongued she could cut concrete with a word, Swire brings a unique support-DPS structure to the battlefield. Her Talent buffs the ATK of adjacent melee allies, and her Skills enhance her Talent in different ways, inspiring her allies to fight harder using her encouragement (or possibly using her drill-sergeant roars, it’s not totally clear).

Swire sounds good on paper, but in practice, her Skills charge too slowly and offer too small of a buff for her to pull her weight satisfactorily. She’s by no means unusable, but she’s a little undertuned right now, especially in comparison to godly buffing machines like Warfarin and Sora. She may receive a buff in the future to compensate for this, but for now, Swire is more useful commandeering your RIIC Base than she is on the battlefield.

I don’t recommend pulling for Swire at this time.

Liskarm does not have time for your shenanigans. She’s got bullets in her pistol, lightning in her shield, and Arts Resistance in her blood, and you’ll only have time to see the first one if you’re getting in her way. A unique Defender with a ranged regular attack, Skills for either survivability or Arts DPS, and passive SP generation for adjacent allies, Liskarm is definitely an Operator worth noticing.

I don’t recommend pulling for Liskarm if you’re a beginner, because she can be tricky to use. I also don’t recommend pulling for Liskarm if you’ve already raised two or more strong Defenders. However, she’s worth pulling for if you understand her Skill interactions and are eager to add another Defender to your roster.

Astesia’s daily horoscopes must look something like this:

“You will meet forty-seven dark strangers on the battlefield today. You will kill all of them with your melee Arts damage, your Block-increasing S2, and the stacking attack speed from your Talent. EnemyDark Stranger #33 will try to scratch you, but the defensive buffs from your Skills and your natural RES will block his feeble attempts at bodily harm. Your lucky color is blue.”

I recommend pulling for Astesia, but only if you understand and need her niche. Arts Guards are not really necessary for regular content, even high-end content: they primarily shine in Challenge stages and Contingency Contract modes where Casters are banned but Arts damage is still required. Only pull for Astesia if you need that functionality in your team.