Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Skadi & Ifrit

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Skadi Ifrit
5★	Nightmare Skyfire Liskarm

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Skyfire and Ifrit.
• 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 not. This is a very situational banner. Skadi and Liskarm are pretty strong, but rarely necessary for specific kinds of content. Ifrit is extremely strong, but her range makes her difficult to use on some stages. Skyfire and Nightmare are often outshone by other Operators. On top of that, the Dancing Lava banner is running at this same time. Unless your waifu is on this banner, it is probably better to pull on Dancing Lava instead.

That being said, it is still not a bad idea to Headhunt x1 on this banner until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Duelist Guard

+ Outstanding HP and ATK

+ Excellent for bosskilling and assassinating key targets

+ Reduced redeployment time at E2, helping her to “helidrop” around the map and gank multiple targets

+ Versatile; good at immediate burst damage (Skill 2) or prolonged destruction (Skill 3)

- Squishy DEF

- Can only Block-1

AoE Caster (Burninator)

+ Insane DPS

+ Reduces enemy DEF and/or RES (offers flat reductions, which is quite rare)

+ Unique range opens unique opportunities for slaughter

- Extremely high DP cost

- Unique range can also be a hindrance on some maps

ST Caster

+ Versatile; can off-heal (Skill 1) or inflict true damage while reducing movement speed (Skill 2)

+ Can stack her Nightmare debuff with a Slow debuff from other Operators

- Skill 1 (healing) has a very long cooldown

- Damage potential with Skill 2 is currently low and very tricky to maximize

AoE Caster

+ Deals a lot of damage in a single hit

+ Skill 2 drops AoE Stuns on enemies, seriously hampering their advance

+ Very flashy and fun to watch

- Skill 2 DPS is substandard for a 5* AoE Caster

Normal Defender

+ Generates SP for surrounding allies

+ Has a ranged normal attack

+ One of the rare Normal Defenders with RES (from her E2 Talent)

+ Skill 2 does Arts damage, giving her surprising damage presence, and can Stun enemies

- Her Skills only charge when she gets hit

- Skill 1 activates automatically, so you can’t save it for when you need it

- Skill 2 Stuns Liskarm when its duration is up; this is very bad for a Defender

- Skill 2 has no damage mitigation, forcing her to choose between DPS and survivability

Skadi certainly lives up to her background as a bounty hunter. She can drop onto the field and murder you instantly with her Skill 2, Wave Strike, or she can bide her time and murder you and all of your friends later with her Skill 3, Tidal Elegy.

Skadi’s damage potential is incredible, and if you have her, it’s very easy to find good places to use her. Who doesn’t need an assassin who never dies and kills everything she comes up against? However, because she can only Block-1 and attack enemies one at a time, she’s limited in the impact she can have in a given battle. When she can assassinate key enemies that need to die right away, she really shines. At other times, however, she doesn’t really do anything that another Operator couldn’t do.

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

Ifrit is the Barbecue Master, whether she’s wearing her summer skin or not. Anything that stands in the range of her straight-line flamethrower for too long will be reduced to charcoal. Her ability to reduce enemy DEF and RES means that even damage-soak enemies are going to have a hard time resisting her firepower, and it makes her a surprisingly good team player in the bargain.

The longer you can arrange to have enemies standing in Ifrit’s ire, the more worthwhile she becomes. On stages with long hallways or where you can funnel enemies down a specific path, she is worth her weight in gold (or lighter fluid). Many maps are not very conducive to her attack pattern, however, which can make her a hard sell. Her debuffs can help her pull her weight even in these situations, but many Doctors would rather deploy a different Operator who has wider applicability.

I don’t recommend pulling specifically for Ifrit, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her.

Nightmare has a fascinating and versatile kit, but her actual effectiveness has been hotly debated in the Arknights community since her release. Unfortunately, Nightmare falls in the “jack of all trades, master of none” category for many. Her Skill 1 offers very strong healing but has such a long cooldown that it can only be used a few times per battle. Her Skill 2 is a contradiction: it reduces enemy movement speed, yet it deals more damage the farther the enemy moves during its duration.

In fact, Nightmare has the dubious honor of being the first (and only at the time of this writing) Operator to receive a buff on the CN servers. This buff has not yet come to NA servers, however, and even with it, Nightmare’s hybrid role is not necessarily one that Doctors need to succeed.

That being said, Nightmare is not without her uses. Her Skill 1 can provide a boost in healing power during one or two difficult waves, when you need it most. Her Skill 2 has hilarious applications with Push or Pull Specialists (who can move enemies against their will), especially since it does true damage that ignores DEF and RES. Her Skill 2 debuff also stacks with Slow debuffs, creating fun strategies for enemy suppression.

I don’t recommend pulling specifically for Nightmare. If you do pull her, however, be aware that she will be buffed in the future, so investing in her may not be a terrible idea.

Skyfire looks excellent on paper: AoE Arts damage, with a fast-charging Skill 2 that provides a massive ATK boost and Stuns all enemies in the radius! What could go wrong?

The problem is how her Skill 2 also dramatically slows down her attacks. In fact, it slows her down so much that her Skill 1—a vanilla ATK buff—has better DPS than her Skill 2. Her Skill 2 does have the added Stun and fairly respectable uptime to redeem it, which makes it excellent for control strategies, but the division still puts Skyfire in a bad spot. Her DPS isn’t at the level you’d expect for a 5* Caster, and the Stuns aren’t an equitable trade in many situations considering her role.

I don’t recommend pulling specifically for Skyfire.

In Liskarm’s own words, “I'm short, have no outstanding Arts talents, and I'm not from any particularly prestigious bloodline.” On the other hand, she gives allies SP, she spits lightning, and she resists Arts damage. I think it’s pretty clear to see why Rhodes Island decided to overlook her height.

Liskarm packs a lot of utility into her kit, and she’s very powerful because of it. However, she’s not the easiest Operator to use. She has a great defensive tool in her Skill 1 and a great offensive tool in her Skill 2, but she can’t equip both at once, so you have to choose which you need for a given battle. Both also have an element of unreliability: the Skill 1 activates automatically, and the Skill 2 Stuns Liskarm when it expires. Timing Liskarm’s Skills is tricky, and there are big consequences if you get it wrong. However, when you get it right, the payoff is worth the effort.

I don’t recommend pulling specifically for Liskarm unless you have a shortage of good Defenders, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her.