Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Eunectes and Saria

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Eunectes - Duelist Defender Saria - Healing Defender
5★	Nightmare - ST Caster Pramanix - Debuffer Supporter Shamare - Debuffer Supporter

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Saria and Pramanix.
• 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/ need Saria, then maybe. Otherwise, probably not.

The most important unit on this banner is unquestionably Saria, queen of Contingency Contracts and Healing Defender extraordinaire. However, she’s also the 6★ available in the shop, so it’d be better to buy her rather than try to pull her (especially with Mansfield Prison Break around the corner).

That being said, if you don’t have the gold certificates to buy Saria, this is not the worst banner to try and pull her. Eunectes, Pramanix, and Shamare are very niche, but they can tip a difficult battle in your favor if used correctly. Nightmare has a very bad reputation in the Arknights community, but even she can be useful with the right setup. This isn’t a banner to go hog-wild on, but it’s not bad enough to miss out on an awesome unit like Saria either.

Even if you already have Saria, it may be worth doing Headhunt x1 on this banner until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Duelist Defender

+ VERY high base HP, ATK, and DEF

+ Talent increases her damage when her HP is over half and increases her defenses with the Shelter buff when her HP is under half

+ S2 is the longest-lasting Stun currently available in Arknights (up to 18 seconds at M3!) and also boasts a massive ATK boost

+ S3 is the perfect package: it grants a titanic ATK and DEF buff, regenerates HP, increases Eunectes’ Block by +2, and has one of the funnier animations in the game to boot

= S3 self-Stuns when its duration ends, which is a double-edged sword

- Archetype weaknesses: Block-1, high DP cost, can only recover SP while blocking at least one enemy

- Skills have fairly long charge time, considering she only gains SP while blocking

Healing Defender

+ Extremely efficient and effective ground-deployed healer

+ Can Block-3 and can also take a hit (especially after her E1 Talent has increased her DEF)

+ E2 Talent grants SP to allies that Saria heals (they must actually recover HP, though; it doesn’t work if they’re already at full HP when she heals)

+ S2 and S3 offer awesome AoE healing over a different range from any existing Medic

+ S3 is terrifyingly effective, both at healing and as a RES/ movement speed debuff

- Has no damage mitigation on her Skills, so she has trouble surviving enemy damage spikes

ST Caster

+ Surprisingly durable when equipped with her S1; she gets Physical and Arts Dodge from her Talent and can heal herself when S1 is active

+ Can heal multiple allies within her attack range using her S1 (useful versatility for Challenges)

+ S2 inflicts the unique Nightmare debuff, which reduces enemy movement speed and stacks with effects like Slow -- perfect for Slow-centric or 0-Block strategies

= The Nightmare debuff inflicts True damage on its victims based on how far they move; however, since the debuff also reduces movement speed, enemies don’t move as far while it’s active 

- Niche abilities; rarely required to complete a stage

- Requires substantial investment to reach her full potential, which is asking a lot for such a niche Operator

- Long cooldown on S1 and automatic activation on S2

Debuffer Supporter

+ Usual archetype strengths: wide attack range, high base RES, cheap DP cost

+ Deals Arts damage (and targets two enemies at a time after E2 promotion)

+ Talent inflicts Fragile, increasing the damage taken by nearby enemies when they are low on HP

+ Can lower enemy attack speed (great survival tool) or DEF/ RES (great offensive tool)

- Usual archetype weaknesses: her direct DPS is so low that she is sometimes less effective than fielding another DPS unit (especially in the early game)

- Has to choose between reducing enemy offense or enemy survivability with her Skills

Debuffer Supporter

+ Usual archetype strengths: wide attack range, high base RES, cheap DP cost

+ Talent inflicts Fragile, increasing the damage taken by nearby enemies when they are low on HP

+ S1 makes her Fragile debuff even stronger, helping burn through meaty targets

+ S2 deploys a cursed doll that reduces ATK and DEF of enemies within its range; a great way to reduce enemy DPS and make bosses/ elites less of a threat

- Usual archetype weaknesses: her direct DPS is so low that she is sometimes less effective than fielding another DPS unit (especially in the early game)

- Her S2 does not increase the damage dealt by Arts DPS Operators, since her doll only lowers DEF, not RES

Eunectes is a strange unit. What possible use could there be for a Defender who only has Block-1? However, if you take a look at her Skills, you’ll soon see her value. An 18-second-long Stun on her S2? Virtual immortality, colossal DPS, and a mech-piloting parrot during her S3?! Sign me up!

Considering how strong Eunectes’ Skills are, it might be surprising that she’s not more widely used. The problem is not that Eunectes isn’t strong; it’s that her strength can be hard to leverage. First off, her DP cost is prohibitively high—between 29 and 33 DP, depending on her promotion rank. That’s a huge cost for a Block-1 unit who isn’t even that special unless her Skills are active.

This brings us to the next problem: Eunectes only charges SP while she’s Blocking an enemy. (Note that her Skills are NOT [Getting Hit] type. Her Trait just prevents her from gaining SP unless she’s Blocking.) So you can’t just helidrop her and blow her powerful Skills on a boss immediately; you must place her well in advance and have her charge up on weaker enemies first. This also hurts Eunectes on any map where multiple enemies are too strong for her to survive Blocking them, especially with that DP cost—if you miscalculate and she dies, you’ll have to pay through the nose to put her back on the map again.

I don’t recommend pulling for Eunectes, although she can be fun to use.

Saria is one of the most versatile units in Arknights. She heals like a Medic, she generates SP for her allies, she can Block-3, she can take a hit, and she can even increase the Arts damage her enemies take so your Casters can blow them sky-high. She’s a Defender, a Medic, and a bunch of excess utility rolled into one severe, stone-faced parcel. With a syringe gun.

I recommend pulling for Saria (or buying her in the shop if you can). She’s great for regular content and a lifesaver in Challenge content.

The dual-natured Gloria—codename Nightmare—is a bundle of contradictions, on and off the battlefield. Her Talent changes depending on her Skill, making her more durable if equipped with S1 and more dangerous if equipped with S2. Aside from her Talent, her Skills are so different that they completely change her role: S1 heals allies when she attacks for the duration, and S2 inflicts a unique Nightmare ailment that greatly slows enemy movement speed and does Pure damage as they move.

Nightmare looks pretty good on paper, but she’s a little too generalist for the amount of resources she demands. In particular, because she has to pick between her two Skills before entering a battle, she’s actually less versatile than she sounds. Her Skills are powerful but take a long time to charge, S2’s auto-trigger is inconvenient, and both Skills need to be at least M1 (preferably M3) to show their true power, which is an expensive prospect.

If you put the resources into her, Nightmare can actually be quite potent. However, few Doctors are likely to feel the return is worth the investment, especially in comparison to other “hybrid” Operators like Podenco.

I don’t recommend pulling for Nightmare.

Pramanix (and the Debuffer Supporter archetype in general) occupies an interesting spot in the Arknights roster. A lot of the time, it’s hard to feel the effect of Pramanix’s powers, especially against trash enemies, whose DEF and RES are usually too low for Pramanix’s percentage-based debuffs to take meaningful effect. In these cases, you’re probably better off fielding a DPS unit instead.

Where Pramanix shines is in edge cases, where your units are almost strong enough to survive a particular enemy or kill a particular target, but not quite. Pramanix pushes the scale in your favor, using her Skills to reduce enemy ASPD (very effective against enemies that already attack slowly, like Demolitionists) or DEF and RES (making Elite and Boss enemies much easier to kill).

She’s hardly useless on her own, either. Multi-target Arts damage over a huge attack range, even with a low ATK value, can be quite effective, and Pramanix also has high base RES, helping her to soak enemy Arts attacks. Best of all, Debuffer Supporters have a very cheap DP cost. This is especially nice if your Vanguards are having trouble holding back the first waves of enemies before you get enough DP to deploy bigger units to the field.

I don’t recommend pulling for Pramanix, but she can be worth raising for high-end content if you pull her.

Shamare is very similar to Pramanix above, but the specifics of her debuffs and use cases are a little different. Pramanix is primarily notable for her S2, which reduces the DEF and RES of all enemies in her attack range. Shamare is also notable for her S2, but Shamare’s S2 gives her a doll that can be placed on the map and decreases ATK and DEF for all enemies around it.

Because Shamare’s S2 is tied to the location of her doll rather than her own placement, Shamare is much more versatile with positioning. She can sit far away from the action and still throw down her doll to debuff enemies at the frontlines. Furthermore, debuffing ATK and DEF instead of DEF and RES gives Shamare a hybrid role: she makes enemies squishier, like Pramanix does, but she also reduces their ATK at the same time, helping your frontliners survive their attacks.

These advantages make Shamare a very appealing choice for a debuffer, but there are some disadvantages to using her over Pramanix. Firstly, while Shamare can use her doll debuffs on enemies anywhere, her Talent’s Fragile debuff is still tied to her location. As such, placing her too far away from the action limits her effectiveness. Secondly, Shamare’s doll has a smaller area of effect than Pramanix’s S2. Finally, Shamare has no way of reducing enemy RES. If your strategy revolves around Physical damage, then Shamare is very potent, but if you’re using Arts damage, Shamare’s usefulness noticeably drops.

I don’t recommend pulling for Shamare, but she can be worth raising for high-end content if you pull her.