Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Schwarz and Eyjafjalla

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Schwarz - Close-Range Sniper Eyjafjalla - ST Caster
5★	Aosta - Spreadshooter Sniper Liskarm - Normal Defender Franka - Duelist Guard

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Eyjafjalla and Liskarm
• 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★

Probably, especially if you A) don’t have Eyjafjalla and B) don’t have enough gold certificates to buy her in the store.

Eyjafjalla is godlike, and Schwarz and Liskarm are quite strong, so pulling on this banner has a decent chance of being worthwhile. Franka and Aosta are not so fortunate. Franka is passable in theory but outclassed in practice (and being a Duelist Guard doesn’t help her case), while Aosta is just bad all around.

At the very least, Doctors might consider doing Headhunt x1 on this banner until they pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Close-Range Sniper

+ High ATK, critical damage, and large multipliers give her incredible burst DPS

+ Buffs the ATK of allied Snipers while deployed

+ From E1 onward, she debuffs the DEF of her target when she triggers a critical hit

+ One of the best Snipers for killing mid- to high-DEF enemies

- High DP cost

- Her normal attack range and S3 attack range can be a little tricky to position

ST Caster

+ Burns everything

+ Moonlights as an AoE Caster, but still has the DP cost/ attack speed of a ST Caster

+ Powers up other allied Casters with her Talent

+ Can provide consistent AoE damage with S2 or heavy AoE burst damage with S3

- Uh…

Spreadshooter Sniper

+ Usual archetype strengths: true-AoE attacks, deals increased damage to enemies in the row in front of the Operator

+ Talent inflicts a Bleed effect (Arts damage over time) on unblocked enemies that he attacks

+ S2 increases ATK and Bleed damage while also inflicting Bind on targets

= Needs to be used with a no-Block strategy to maximize the usefulness of his Bind and the damage of his Bleed

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Short attack range and slow ASPD

- S2 has low uptime

- Slow ASPD makes it hard to keep enemies in his attack range for very long without Blocking them, but Blocking them means he won’t inflict his Bleed

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 that deals 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

Duelist Guard

+ E1 Talent gives her a chance to ignore enemy DEF, so she’s great against high-DEF enemies

+ Talent activation chance is greatly increased by Skill 2

- Skill 2 also lowers her DEF to 0, making it a double-edged sword (haha)

- Usually, Arts damage is an easier way to counter high-DEF enemies

Schwarz is a straight-up delete button for anything stupid enough to walk in front of her. Her Talent gives her a chance to crit and reduce her target’s DEF, and the chance becomes 100% while her S3 is active. Her S3 also gives a massive buff to ATK—considering how high Schwarz’s base ATK is, this turns each critical hit into an armor-piercing grenade. The burst damage Schwarz outputs during her S3 is phenomenal, and she’s no slouch the rest of the time either.

That being said, Schwarz tends to be a bit limited in her application. Yes, she generally deletes any target during her S3, but so do units like SilverAsh and Eyjafjalla. Schwarz does add a little team utility with her Sniper ATK buff and the DEF debuff she applies with her critical hits, but she’s first and foremost a DPS unit, and there are other 6* units who can fill her role fairly easily. (We’re looking at you, Surtr.)

I don’t recommend pulling for Schwarz, but she’s worth raising if you pull her.

Eyjafjalla, ladies and gentlemen. At this point, is anybody unaware of the phenomenal cosmic power that this gentle goat vulcanologist wields? She’s technically a ST Caster, with the attack speed and DP cost to match. However, her gamebreaking S2 and S3 give her unparalleled AoE Arts damage that can bring the toughest of opponents to their knees.

I highly recommend pulling for Eyjafjalla. I recommend buying her in the certificate shop even more!

Aosta can usually be found sewing new clothes and armor for his buddies Broca and Chiave, but when they get themselves into trouble, Aosta loads up his nailgun and goes to bail them out. The shots from his specially-tailored (get it?) nailgun are brutal, inflicting an additional Bleed effect to unblocked enemies, and his fearsome S2 doubles the Bleed damage while also inflicting Bind.

There are two problems with this setup. Firstly, keeping enemies in Aosta’s range without Blocking them is not easy. As typical for his archetype, Aosta has a limited attack range and fairly slow ASPD. You can get around this with Slower Supporters, Controller Specialists, and other crowd-control Operators, but the fact is that Aosta is unlikely to get many effective shots off without a lot of help.

Secondly, even if Aosta does get those shots off, you may not be impressed with the results. Even in the best-case scenario, Aosta’s damage tends to be mediocre. The Bind from his S2 is nice crowd-control, but considering that he practically needs crowd-control in order to function and that his S2 has low uptime, this does not make up for his other flaws.

I don’t recommend pulling for Aosta.

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, great Skills for either survivability or Arts DPS, and passive SP generation for adjacent allies, Liskarm is definitely an Operator worth noticing.

Despite her dynamic power, Liskarm suffers from masochistic tendencies. Both of her Skills have the [Getting Hit] SP charge type, and her SP-recovery Talent also relies on getting hit. Her Skills also have fairly short duration and can take a while to charge due to the [Getting Hit] SP, even with her Talent to help out. In the worst case scenario, Liskarm’s Skills won’t be ready to use until it’s too far into a wave for them to be useful. But when they come online at the right time, Liskarm accomplishes her job like a well-oiled machine. A well-oiled machine full of lightning bolts.

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 (maybe even buying) if you understand her Skill interactions and are in need of another Defender for your roster.

Franka is a Duelist Guard who specializes in taking down high-DEF targets. Her Talent gives her a chance to ignore enemy DEF when attacking, and her Skill 2 greatly increases this Talent’s activation chance. Once that Vorpal Edge goes snicker-snack, heads are sure to roll.

In a vacuum, Franka is very powerful. Her issue is that her job is usually done more easily by units with Arts damage. Most players would rather raise the much cheaper 3* Melantha for their Duelist Guard needs and let their Casters handle high-DEF targets. If you invest in Franka, she can perform brilliantly, but it’s difficult to find a situation where she would be preferable to a Caster or an Arts Guard.

I don’t recommend pulling for Franka. (She gets some great lines in the Rainbow Six storyline, though.)