Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: SilverAsh and Mudrock

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Maybe, but probably not, but mostly because of timing.

From a 6 Star perspective, this really is an excellent Standard banner. It is pretty rare for both of the 6 Stars to be this good.  SilverAsh is a long-time favorite and Mudrock is still one of the best lane-holding Defenders you can have. SilverAsh is about to lose his title of Best AoE Physical Burst Unit, but these are still two extremely powerful 6★s who can pull a lot of weight on any team. The available 5★s are not the best, but two of them are very good at their niches and the last one can be decent if you’re very creative.

Despite this (and I’m sure you’re tired of reading this by now), even stronger banners like Never Vowed and Chop the Thorns are around the corner. That being said, this is not a bad banner to pull on if you don't have either 6 Star and you are confident you will have enough pulls to get the strong upcoming Operators you want.

As with all banners, a 5★ or higher Operator is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls. Should you pull for that? Probably not. These are decent 5★ Operators, but they’re unlikely to bring a major power spike to your army (unless you have no good Centurion Guards, in which case it might be worth doing the 10-pull and hoping for Broca).

Ranged/ Lord Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: Deployed on ground squares, yet attacks at range and hits aerial units

+ Reduces the redeploy time of allied Operators (E1 Talent)

+ Reveals invisible enemies within his attack range (E2 Talent)

+ S2 makes him into a serviceable off-tank

+ S3 (also known as schwing-schwing) unleashes incredible multi-target burst damage that absolutely deletes waves

- Pretty underwhelming before he is promoted to E2, since most of his power is in S3 and his best utility is his E2 Talent

- Long cooldown on S3

- There are a lot more Operators with Physical burst now (and one of the best is about to come out soon)

Enmity Defender

+ Has very high base HP and ATK

+ Talent generates “shield charges” over time; each shield automatically negates one instance of damage and heals Mudrock for a percentage of her max HP when triggered

+ S2 does AoE damage to ground enemies around Mudrock, may Stun targets, and recovers a percentage of Mudrock’s max HP

+ S3 makes Mudrock temporarily invulnerable and Slows all nearby enemies; after a delay, it Stuns nearby ground enemies and increases Mudrock’s ATK/ DEF/ number of enemies attacked for the rest of the Skill’s duration

= Has somewhat low base DEF for a Defender, but this can be countered by the shields from her Talent and the invulnerability/ DEF boost from S3

- Usual archetype weaknesses: High DP cost, cannot be directly healed by allies (although regen does work)

- Shield charges are used automatically, so they may trigger to block scratch damage and not be around when you need them

- S2 has [Getting Hit] SP charge type, potentially negating the healing effect, and is not a reliable source of Stun

- The way that S3’s effects occur in two different stages can make it difficult to time correctly

AoE/ Centurion Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: attacks a number of enemies equal to his Block count

+ An AoE Guard with easy access to Arts damage (both S1 and S2)

+ Increases his attack range and Slows enemies with S2

= Usual archetype caveat: he gains Block-3 when promoted to E2, but he has to be promoted to E2 before he really shines

= Skills have large potential ATK boosts but have to be M3’d before they become impressive

= S2 self-Stuns Broca upon completion, which can be advantageous or game-ruining

- Comparatively squishy for an AoE Guard because he lacks strong defensive options (he can get a small DEF boost from his Talent, but that’s about it)

- S2 has to be carefully timed, because it Stuns him after completion

Modal/ Phalanx Caster

+ Usual archetype strengths: Gains DEF +200% and RES +20 while Skills are not active, and attacks all enemies within range while Skills are active

+ Talent gives her HP regen, making her even more of a brick wall

+ S2 summons a Block-3 obelisk to a square within her range, absorbing damage and Stunning enemies upon creation

= Has faster ASPD than an AoE Caster and targets all units within her range rather than dealing splash damage, but cannot attack while her Skills aren’t active

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Loses her massive survivability bonuses when using her Skills, but can’t attack unless her Skills are active

- Limited duration of the S2 obelisk means it usually can’t replace a dedicated Blocker

Abjurer Supporter

+ Usual archetype strengths: Cheap DP cost, can switch between Arts attacks and healing, fast ASPD

+ Talent grants Shelter to allies within range when they have HP above a certain threshold, which makes it easier to maintain than other sources of Shelter

+ S1 is a permanent Skill that can be turned off at will; it basically turns Quercus into a Medic who has a very fast rate of healing

+ S2 increases Quercus’ ASPD and grants 1 SP to any ally she heals; good synergy with Operators who damage themselves (i.e., Aak, Shalem)

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Low stats, geared to assist defensive strategies that are currently off-meta

- Her Shelter effect is very weak (to compensate for how easy it is to apply)

- S2 only gives SP to allies that Quercus can heal, so it is hard to apply to allies who aren’t getting attacked and impossible to apply to allies who can’t be healed (i.e., Mudrock, La Pluma)

SilverAsh has been renowned as one of the best Operators in Arknights for a long time, and not without reason. He is incredibly versatile, combining ranged physical attacks with an S2 that helps him soak damage, an S3 that nukes everything within range, an anti-stealth Talent just because, and another Talent that reduces redeployment time for your other units.

Unfortunately, SilverAsh is about to have his superiority shaken in a big way by upcoming Liberator Guard Mlynar. Mlynar has a shorter-cooldown S3 that covers almost as wide a range and does even more damage than the legendary schwing-schwing.

This isn’t the end of SilverAsh as a unit, however. Liberator Guards are notoriously tricky to use; in contrast, SilverAsh is simple, reliable, and still very effective in 99% of situations. His anti-stealth Talent sees a lot of use in challenge stages, his passive is always good to have around, he can attack and Block when his Skill is on cooldown (Mlynar cannot), and hey—can any Doctor have too many AoE burst Skills? No, I didn’t think so either.

I don’t recommend pulling for SilverAsh at this point—you’re better off waiting for Mlynar—but he’s still extremely worth raising if you pull him.

Mudrock was the big boss of the “Twilight of Wolumonde” event, where she was a colossal obstacle for unprepared players. Now Doctors can take revenge by leveraging Mudrock’s considerable power for themselves! As an Enmity Defender, Mudrock refuses to be directly healed by Rhodes Island’s Operators, relying instead on the regenerating shields of her Talent and outright invincibility from her S3 to soak damage and survive. And the longer she survives, the less likely it is that her enemies will do the same: Mudrock’s mighty hammerswings can crush any opponent into gravel.

The power of a Defender who can deflect just about any attack cannot be overstated. Yes, Mudrock is difficult to heal and her S3’s timing is tricky. Her shields alone would still make her worthwhile, to say nothing of her enormous self-sustain and terrifying damage potential. Mudrock is every bit the unstoppable juggernaut that a former boss should be. (Just don’t take her to stages with poison mist.)

I definitely recommend pulling for or buying Mudrock.

Broca is a good Operator in a vacuum, but sadly, he tends to be overshadowed by other members of his archetype. Centurion Guards are a very powerful archetype in Arknights, with standouts like 6★ Gavial the Invincible and 5★ Specter. Broca doesn’t have the outlandish DPS of Gavialter or the death defiance of Specter, so he typically falls by the wayside in comparison.

That doesn’t mean he’s bad, however. This hunky husbando combines Block-3 (at E2) with multi-target attacks, easy access to Arts damage, and extended range, making him surprisingly effective. He’s particularly good for stages where Casters or ranged units are banned, as he’s a reliable source of Arts damage who is deployed on ground grids. Be careful with his S2, however, which self-Stuns once the duration is up and might allow enemies to leak past Broca.

If you’re going to invest in Broca, it’s important to realize that he’s not a cheap date. AoE Guards need to be promoted to E2 to become Block-3 units, and Broca in particular needs to M3 his Skills before his ATK buffs become particularly impressive.

I don’t recommend pulling for Broca (although he does have a skin available in the current CC event).

Beeswax debuted the Phalanx Caster archetype, an unusual unit that switches back and forth between two “modes” depending on Skill usage. When Beeswax does not have a Skill active, she does not attack, but she gains colossal defensive buffs that make her almost as sturdy as a high-tier Defender. When she does activate a Skill, she loses those defensive bonuses, but she begins inflicting Arts damage on all enemies within her range. Her S2 has the added benefit of dropping a Block-3 sheep—er, I mean, obelisk on the field, Stunning enemies and halting their advance.

Phalanx Casters are strange units that can be hard to use well. Since they’re ranged units, they can’t Block, so they’re best used to absorb the attacks of ranged enemies. However, since they lose their defensive bonuses when they activate a Skill, absorbing ranged attacks often means the Phalanx Caster must play passively for a large part of the map. In many cases, using a Defender and an intelligent deployment order can be more effective than a Phalanx Caster.

On the other hand, some maps have awkward layouts that force your ranged Operators to be put in harm’s way. In these cases, Beeswax can shrug off the damage and give you breathing space to focus on other problems. Beeswax’s Skills also charge quickly and can be used to keep waves of weak enemies under control—and don’t forget about her S2 obelisk, which is a great decoy target for burst-damage-happy opponents (i.e., Lancers).

I don’t recommend pulling for or buying Beeswax, but she can be well worth raising if you pull her.

Quercus has been supplying Rhodes Island with much-needed medicines and provisions, as well as luxuries like homemade pastries and preserves, for several years. Now that the Doctor has finally signed her on to the Rhodes Island payroll, she’s busy providing Operators with gifts of HP and SP on the battlefield instead.

As far as HP recovery goes, you could do worse than Quercus. She has lower ATK but much faster ASPD than most Medics, so she is a more responsive healer once her S1 is activated (plus she offers Shelter utility, for what that’s worth). Her S2 does not offer permanent healing like her S1 does, but it also grants SP to every ally she heals as long as it’s active, which can be quite a powerful effect.

Quercus has a lot of application in theory, but in practice, it doesn’t tend to add up. Her main draw is the SP generation of S2, but because S2 only grants HP when actively healing, it can’t give SP to unhealable Operators (i.e., Mudrock) or to any Operator who’s at full HP. (You’ll also probably need a Medic present to heal allies while Quercus’ S2 isn’t active, and that Medic will then cut into Quercus’ SP generation when S2 is active.) Quercus can be helpful, especially in situations where Medics are banned, but she’s more likely to be on the “luxury” side rather than the “much-needed” side.

I don’t recommend pulling for Quercus.