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

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Schwarz Saria
5★	Glaucus Franka Nearl

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Saria and Franka.
• 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 Schwarz or Saria, then yes. Otherwise, probably not.

The 6★s on this banner are very good—Schwarz is an excellent bosskiller and Saria is one of the best units for Contingency Contract events. The 5★s on this banner are good, but they are a lot more niche. You probably don’t want to use your resources to pull for them specifically.

This banner might not tickle your fancy, but even so, it might be a good idea to do Headhunt x1 until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Close-Range Sniper

+ Hard-hitting Sniper; excellent for killing bosses

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

- High DP cost

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

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

Slower Supporter

+ Currently the only Arts damage unit who targets aerial enemies first (great when Snipers are banned)

+ Good crowd-control with her Slow Trait and her Skill 2

+ Can nuke Drones very effectively with her Skill 2 (and Stun them if they survive)

= As a Supporter, she has a different attack range from any currently existing Sniper

- Has a hard time dealing damage to Drones with high RES

- Lower ATK and slower ATK speed than equal-rarity Anti-Air Snipers

- Reduced damage and crowd-control output against ground-based enemies

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

Healing Defender

+ Ground-deployed healer with a lot of healing power

+ E2 Talent increases the healing received by all allies (as long as Nearl is deployed)

- Low HP and no DEF-boosting Skills, so she is not a good damage soak

- Inferior to Saria in basically every way

Schwarz is Ceylon’s personal bodyguard and a former child assassin. She’s an expert at efficiently disposing of her targets, as anyone who’s seen her perform on the battlefield can attest. Between a DEF debuff, a critical hit Talent, great ATK, and a truly lethal Skill 3, few enemies who encounter Schwarz live to tell the tale.

If you don’t have another unit that is good for bosskilling, like Eyjafjalla or Hellagur, then I recommend pulling for Schwarz. If you already have other bosskillers, I don’t recommend pulling for Schwarz, but she’s still well worth investing in if you pull her.

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.

Glaucus is a Supporter who moonlights as a Sniper. She targets aerial enemies first (and does bonus damage to them) and her Skill 2 is the antithesis of any Drone-type opponent. A lot of her power and utility is reduced when targeting non-flying enemies, though.

Glaucus is ideal for Drone-heavy Challenge stages where Snipers are banned, and the long-lasting Stun/ Bind of her S2 is useful when you want to hold enemies in place, but she doesn’t see a lot of use beyond that. That being said, she’s a godsend in those specific situations (Contingency Contract, anybody?) and she’s still a serviceable crowd-control unit against ground targets.

I don’t recommend pulling for Glaucus unless you are very interested in her niche.

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 unless you are in urgent need of a unit that can counter high-DEF units (or unless she is your waifu, of course).

Nearl is a Defender who moonlights as a Medic. In contrast to Saria, Nearl is pretty squishy and has a hard time surviving as a damage soak. She pretty much focuses entirely on the “Healing” part of “Healing Defender.” Not only does she directly heal adjacent allies, but her E2 Talent increases the healing received by all allies on the battlefield as long as she’s deployed.

Nearl is a pretty respectable unit. However, she’s a far cry from Saria, who can heal multiple targets at once over a wider range and also survive an axe to the face much more reliably. With Saria on the same banner, it’s hard not to feel disappointed if you pull Nearl instead. That being said, it can occasionally be useful to deploy both units at once (i.e., on Challenge stages where Medics are banned) and Nearl is certainly valuable in her own right for being a ground-deployed healer.

I don’t recommend pulling for Nearl, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her and not Saria. (Saria is much better, though.)