Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner 02

Arknights EN is getting yet another Rate-Up banner as part of the Opening Event Part 2 Campaign, replacing the 1 week long Standard Pool 01 that featured Exusiai and Angelina. 

In Standard Pool 02, the 6★ Vanguard Siege and 6★ AoE Medic Nightingale comprise the pool’s top operators, joined by Texas (5★ Vanguard), Franka (5★ Guard), and Platinum (5★ Sniper).

As a general rule of thumb, players not saving their Orundum for a very specific banner in the future should always try to do Headhunt x1 until they pull a 5★ or higher Operator from each banner. 

This will maximize the number of high rarity operators obtained per Orundum, though at the expense of having less control over which operators are obtained.

Rolling beyond the guaranteed 5★ is only suggested if you are a big spender, would be happy pulling any of the Operators on Rate-Up, or really desperately want at least one of the featured units. 

For detailed information on whether each specific Operator is worth pulling for, read on.

Siege is the only 6★ Vanguard in Arknights, with incredible late-game potential to match her rarity.  

Vanguards are useful in every map, and while lower rarity Operators like Courier or Fang can usually generate sufficient DP to successfully complete maps, none can quite match the offensive capabilities that Siege brings to Rhodes Island.

Gameplay

Siege’s ace is her Skill 2, Aerial Hammer, which has a low SP cost, can store up to 3 charges, deals AoE damage, and generates DP in the process. Her Elite 2 Talent, Crushing, refunds Skill Points when enemies are killed near Siege, potentially letting her spam Aerial Hammer to hilarious effect.

If you pulled Zima from Standard Pool 01, she synergizes very well with Siege. Ursus's Roar can provide Siege with a massive stat buff on top of effectively turning her into an AoE DP-on-kill Vanguard, enabling Siege to generate some insane DP refunds when the situation is right.

Siege can be recruited (only when the Top Operator tag is used). Combining the Top Operator tag with Vanguard or DP-Recovery tags will guarantee Siege as an outcome. 

Other than Standard Pool 02 from Headhunting, Siege will be available in:

• Standard Pool 06 (can exchange with 180 Distinctions)

• Standard Pool 11 (can exchange with 180 Distinctions)

• Standard Pool 15

• Standard Pool 20

• Since rate-up units are only 50% of the 2% 6★ rate in Arknights, and Siege has to share it with Nightingale, the chance of getting Siege with any one particular x1 Headhunt is only 0.5%. Players should not count on getting her with a low number of pulls. 

To date on CN, there hasn’t been any content that can’t be cleared without Siege or specifically requires her. 

While you’ll use her often if obtained, the situational nature of Siege’s Skills and her high Deployment cost means she won’t be able to fully show off her strengths in every map. 

Getting Siege from Standard Pool 02 will be great if: 

• You need a high rarity Vanguard

• You have Zima and want to try the combo

• You have no other Operators worth the Elite 2 investment

• You like that casual lioness “bring it” pride leader look.

On the other hand, you may not find pulling Siege very useful if:  

• You already have her (A higher Potential is nice, but not as nice as a different 6★ Operator)

• You have plenty of good Vanguards (like Texas or Zima)

• You have a more pressing need for Operators of other Classes.

Nightingale is one of two 6★ Medics in Arknights (the other being Shining), and the only 6★ AoE Medic.  Her specialty is helping your Operators survive Arts Damage. 

As it is quite rare among Defenders (and Operators in general) to have abilities that increase Arts Resistance, having Nightingale in your party can significantly simplify stages that have high enemy Arts damage.

Nightingales Talent, White Fiend’s Protection, as well as both of her Skills, Arts Shield and Sanctuary, are abilities that increase the Arts Resistance of your Operators, while her 3rd Skill provides Arts Evade as well.  She has an adaptable skill-set that allows her to choose between:

• periodic bursts of strength to handle intermittent rushes with Skill 1 (enhances basic core AoE healing)

• regular shielding to absorb Arts damage with Skill 2, or 

• a massive burst of healing and Arts Resistance on demand and a long cooldown with skill 3.

Her second talent, Fleeting Phantom, enables some interesting strategic play, as it creates phantoms that she can place on the map to draw enemy fire.  These phantoms cannot attack or block, but they have high Arts Resistance and Dodge, giving your team the respite it needs to survive tight situations.

Nightingale can be recruited (only when the Top Operator tag is used). Combining the Top Operator tag with Medic, Healing, or Support tags can narrow down the choices, but won’t quite guarantee her, as she shares the exact same tags with another recruitable 6★ Operator Shining.

During this banner, Nightingale will be available for exchange in the Certificate Shop for 180 Distinctions.  In future banners she will likely be available as follows:

• Standard Pool 5 (can exchange with 180 Distinctions)

• Standard Pool 14

• Standard Pool 17 (can exchange with 160 Distinctions)

• Since rate-up units are only 50% of the 2% 6★ rate in Arknights, and Nightingale has to share it with Siege, the chance of getting Nightingale with any one particular x1 Headhunt is only 0.5%.  Players should not count on getting her with a low number of pulls. 

Nightingale is primarily a preventative healer that may, in some situations, underperform compared to lower rarity AoE Medics 5★ Ptilopsis or 4★ Perfumer, especially when there is no Arts damage involved. While AoE healers are important team members, the other AoE healers are arguably less niche and more universally effective than Nightingale, especially given their significantly reduced investment requirements compared to the 6★.

Getting Nightingale from Standard Pool 02 will be great if: 

• You need an AoE Healer

• You want to ease the difficulty of stages with high Arts damage

• The strategic value of her Phantom skill at Elite 2 is appealing to you

• You are inspired by pure white inner strength.  And maybe like birds.

On the other hand, you may not find pulling Nightingale very useful if:  

• You already have her (A higher Potential is nice, but not as nice as a different 6★ Operator)

• You have a developed Ptilopsis or Perfumer

• You have better operators to spend Elite materials on

• You don’t mind reconfiguring your teams to include an Arts Resist Operator ( like Matterhorn) on stages that might otherwise require  them

Texas is one of 2 5★ Vanguards in Arknights (the other being Zima).  She is a Skill-DP-Recovery Vanguard that specializes in early DP gain and crowd-control capability.

Texas’ talent, Tactical Delivery, adds DP to the players starting pool when she is on the team.  Even though it isn’t much, it should not be underestimated, as 1 or 2 DP can make a huge difference at the start of a map with an early rush.

It is her second skill, though, that gains her the most accolades.  Sword Rain stuns all enemies within 2 tiles of Texas for 2 seconds, on top of dealing arts damage twice to each of them and gaining DP.  It is a very versatile and useful skill.

Texas can be recruited with a Crowd Control tag combined with either a Vanguard or DP-Recovery tag.  During this banner, Texas will be available for exchange in the Certificate Shop for 45 Distinctions.  She has not been exchangeable in the Certification Shop since this banner for CN.

After this pool, Texas will be available in:

• Standard Pool 11

• Joint Action

• Standard Pool 20

• While Arknights Rate-Up banners guarantee a 5★ or higher Operator within the first 10 pulls, there’s only about a ~16% chance that Texas will be the guaranteed roll, as she shares the odds with Franka and Platinum.

Texas is a solid Vanguard with great offensive capabilities and a lot of versatility with her Talent and Skill 2.  Her low HP and Defense, however, make her susceptible to dying rather quickly against hard hitting enemies or if lacking a healer.

Getting Texas from Standard Pool 02 will be great if: 

• You lack a high rarity Vanguard.

• You are struggling with early DP drought.

• You like simple, sleek, elegant, and winning.

On the other hand, you may not find pulling Texas very useful if:  

• You already have her (A higher potential is nice, but not as nice as a different 5★ Operator)

• You already have Zima or Siege.  Although Texas synergizes well with, and will often find a place on teams alongside of these Vanguards, at this point in the game you may be better off obtaining 5★ units in other Class/Roles if you already have a strong Vanguard.

• Are finding your needs met by Courier and other Vanguards, and have a greater need for a different Class/role.

Franka is 5★ Guard that specializes in high Damage output and Defense ignoring capabilities. Her role is similar to that of Melantha, though Franka has better damage, can scale into end-game, and has higher versatility, but requires much higher investment.

Franka has the highest Attack of any Guard, giving her exceptional sustained DPS.  Her talent, Thermite Blade, and her second skill, Vorpal Edge, combine to give her fairly consistent Defense ignoring damage effective against armored foes.  She can only block 1, but her job is typically to take down enemies quickly, especially armored ones, rather than delaying them.

Franka cannot be recruited! She is gacha-only. 

After this pool, Franka will be available in:

• Standard Pool 7

• Standard Pool 18 (can exchange with 45 Distinctions)

• While Arknights Rate-Up banners guarantee a 5★ or higher Operator within the first 10 pulls, there’s only about a ~16% chance that Franka will be the guaranteed roll, as she shares the odds with Texas and Platinum.

Franka is an extremely powerful offensive ST Melee Guard whose damage has a high chance to ignore Defense, making her an excellent tank killer.  However, tanks usually hit rather hard and her S2 has the drawback of reducing her own Defense to 0, making her difficult to keep alive if she is required to block as well as kill it.

Getting Franka from Standard Pool 02 will be great if: 

• You want a high rarity ST offensive Guard.  There is no 6★ currently that fills her role.

• You could use an Operator with high melee single target offensive potential, and/or a tank killer.

• You like foxy killers in heels.

On the other hand, you may not find pulling Franka very useful if:  

• You already have her (A higher potential is nice, but not as nice as a different 5★ Operator)

• You are planning on rolling for Skadi, a future 6★ Guard that fills a similar role (albeit not the armor-ignoring one)

• You have grown too attached to Melantha, and find she satisfies all of your ST melee needs.

• You prefer to kill armored tanks with Casters that can do it from a safe distance, or don’t have the Medics to handle the healing requirement.

Platinum is one of two 5★ ST aerial-priority Snipers in Arknights (the other being Blue Poison).  Her role is pretty simple and straightforward: Kill everything in sight (but flying things first).

Platinum’s unique strength lies primarily in her second skill: Pegasian Sight.  It extends her range 1 tile beyond that of normal ST snipers, and increases her damage at the cost of some attack speed.  This effect is permanent: once it is active, she will be in extended slaughter-mode the rest of the fight. If she is in a situation where her talent, All-out-attack, can take effect (increases damage based on time in between attacks), she can put up some especially impressive damage numbers.

Platinum can be recruited, but there are no set of Tags that uniquely guarantee her, making her recruitment highly unlikely.  It would require a Senior Operator Tag, one of her shared Tags, and a lot of luck.

After this pool, Platinum will be available in:

• Standard Pool 8

• Joint Action

• Standard Pool 17(can exchange with 45 Distinctions)

• While Arknights Rate-Up banners guarantee a 5★ or higher Operator within the first 10 pulls, there’s only about a ~16% chance that Platinum will be the guaranteed roll, as she shares the odds with Texas and Franka.

Platinum is a Sniper whose unique Skill 2 enables her to make big hits at a longer range than typical ST Snipers, making her a useful strategic option and great at her job.  Unfortunately, the Skill takes quite a while to activate (around a minute), and until it does, she’s at a bit of a disadvantage. This makes her less useful in rush situations or on maps where she doesn’t have time to set up for the long haul.

Getting Platinum from Standard Pool 02 will be great if: 

• You don’t have a high rarity ST Sniper.

• You want the strategic advantage of a heavy hitting ST Sniper with extended range.

• You like blondes.

On the other hand, you may not find pulling Platinum very useful if:  

• You already have her (A higher potential is nice, but not as nice as a different 5★ Operator)

• You already have a strong ST Sniper (Blue Poison or Exusiai), or plan on rolling for Exusiai in the future.

• Some 6★ Operators that are likely to be coming up in the next few banners: Eyjafjalla, Ifrit, Skadi, Shining, and Saria, so if any of those interest you, you should save your resources.

• If you have all or most of the rate-up Operators, you may not want to pull, even for the guarantee.