Arknights: Pozëmka in-depth gameplay analysis

Strap yourself in and get your coffee ready, this is going to be a fun ride.

Yeah that’s it for the intro

Pozёmka (pronounced pɐˈzʲɵmkə, or pah-zi-om-ka, which I will now shorten to Pozy) is our second 6* Heavyshooter in the game to join our lonely Schwarz (lonely as in 6*). The problem is, not only Pozy came in and mugged Schwarz, she also brought along a companion that did the same. She sports one of the strongest 1-2 targets damage output of the game, and is beaten only by the few broken units in the game (they either have even more damage or have slightly lower DPS but have more targets count).

Heavyshooters have the fourth highest ATK among all snipers archetypes, but the second fastest attack rate at 1.6 seconds. Compared to Schwarz, the other 6* Heavyshooter, Pozy has 6 more ATK at max level.

This makes their general damage output quite decent, as they have only slightly lower ATK than the top 3 branches but a significantly faster attack rate than those 3. And, well, they are designed for nothing but damage output, especially to bypass defense.

Spoiler alerts, but due to their short range, they are compensated with the third highest HP of all snipers, losing only to Spreadshooters (even shorter range), and Flingers (tanky in general because of Rosmontis). There are outliers like Fiammetta, which I have already covered, and future Deadeye Sniper Lunacub.

Their DEF is also relatively high, and is the 2nd highest just after Flingers. Even in the grand scheme of things, their DEF is actually higher than some melee archetypes out there *cough* Dreadnought *cough* Crusher *cough*.

No snipers have RES aside from Flingers and Blue Poison.

Overall, they are fairly tanky for a ranged unit. They can’t primarily tank, but they can take notably more attacks than their ranged kin.

Their DP cost isn’t too high, but it’s strangely inflated by the fact that they gain +2 DP cost per promotion, rather than just once at E1. Being a 6* also gives Pozy more DP cost as well. Starting at 16, she ends up at 20 at E2. The best reason I can come up with is that this archetype relies on ATK to deal more damage, so the +2 at E2 seems to be balanced for that… probably.

As spoiled above, their range is short, especially compared to what most snipers have. Their range is like that of a Splash Caster.

This does make them a bit more focused to a lane more often than not, but both of the 6*s of this archetype offers some form of range extension. For Pozy, oh man, wait until you see hers.

High accuracy point-blank shot

Yeah that means as much as you think. They essentially have no trait as far as description goes. Of course it does imply some common trend about the Heavyshooters, but I’m not sure if the trend came first or the trait description.

Tangent warning: At launch, there was only Provence. The trait might be a reference to how her critical talent gets a bonus against targets in her frontal tile. Then Schwarz came with her critical talent having no such boost, but instead, her S3, her most damaging skill, is restricted to 4 frontal tiles. Then Aciddrop came in, not even having a critical hit talent, but instead, having a higher minimum damage talent, and once again having a boost to that talent to targets in her 2 frontal tiles. Guess what, Pozy has a bonus to her frontal tiles as well. Now you know why I asked which came first, the trait or the trend.

Always available – Can use a Typewriter that lasts for 15 seconds. The Typewriter has the same skill as Pozy and has its own redeployment time

At E1, it lasts 20 seconds. And at E2, it lasts 25 seconds.

Available at E2 – Typewriter’s attack will reduce the target’s DEF by -18% for 4 seconds. If the Typewriter is within 4 adjacent tiles to Pozy, the effect is increased to -23%.

Potential 5 increases that to 20%, 5 seconds, and 25%, respectively.

Hoo boy what a pair of talents. First let’s talk about the Typewriter.

The thing has its own ATK stat, has 1.6 seconds attack interval (like Pozy), has 5 unchangeable DP cost, 40 seconds redeployment time, is invincible (untargetable, unaffected by status effects), does not take deployment slot, and can only be deployed on a ranged tile.

Its ATK stat usually trails behind within 10 ATK points (or less) of Pozy’s pre-trust ATK, which means it’s about 80 ATK behind Pozy at full trust. This ATK is also not changed with Pozy’s ATK, meaning buffing Pozy ATK up doesn’t change the Typewriter’s ATK.

It has an attack range of 3 frontal tiles. Since it has the same skill as Pozy, if she were to have a skill that extends her frontal range, the typewriter would have it too. (Yes this is foreshadowing).

40 seconds redeployment time is much faster than the standard 70 seconds. In fact, it’s similar to April’s redeployment time. Or 1 second shorter than a Heavyshooter pot3+ with ARC-X (yes this is another foreshadowing).

The fact that it’s also invincible means that it’s completely immune from all effects in the game bar one. Emperor’s Blade’s Dominion doesn’t affect it. Sandstorm doesn’t affect it. Poison Haze doesn’t affect it (but it will affect Pozy). The only thing that can affect it is tile-banning effect like Frostnova’s black ice. Or of course, killing its owner, Pozy.

The Typewriter is considered its own source of damage. That is to say, if there’s an effect that reflects damage back to the attacker or something similar, it will count toward the Typewriter and not Pozy. And since the Typewriter is invincible, that means it can safely attack whoever has that hypothetical reflect.

Unlike Phantom’s clone or Kal’tsit’s Mon3tr, it doesn’t take any deployment slot. Which means as long as you have 5DP and a tile, you can always deploy it.

Like Weedy’s cannon, the Typewriter has an additional effect when adjacent to its owner. However, in this case, the additional effect is only an additional 5% DEF reduction. So it’s free to go all over the map to reach enemies, making it the next best thing to global range.

–

As you can guess, the Typewriter opens up a lot of potential for Pozy. Not only can it double up Pozy’s damage, it can also split her damage among different areas of the map. Furthermore, it can also be used to snipe problematic ranged enemies before they get close to other operators.

If you read my Firewatch’s guide, you’d know how much I gushed about her pseudo-invincibility through the Invisible mechanic. And then this thing comes along and straight up has actual invincibility. That’s sick bro.

Since it has to be deployed on a ranged tile, most people would believe that it’s rather hard to utilise the Typewriter due to a lack of ranged tiles. But the thing is, this “lack of ranged tiles” usually stems from hazards, not a literal lack of tiles. For example, CC#6 main map Howling Desert: with the top down sandstorms, you only have 3 ranged tiles on the bottom right that are safe from the rude sandstorm. Oh wait, doesn’t the Typewriter ignore the sandstorm?

There are maps where you actually have few spaces available (Vintage Transport, Traveler From Afar, Toron 8th floor,...) but those are relatively rare.

Fun fact, the Typewriter is affected by IS#2 “debuff” Survivalist, boosting its ATK and ASPD. But since it’s, again, invincible, the downside of losing HP is negated entirely.

It isn’t affected by buffs such as class-specific buff, SSS-buff, or even Inspire buff, but it is affected by generic buff such as Chalice, ranged-damage buff, and summon-related buff (IS#3).

And all that… is before we talk about Pozy’s skills, which the Typewriter can use. Dangit.

Always available – Sales Promotion: When in a Trading Post, efficiency +5% for every 1 Pure Gold Production Line.

Available at E2 – Zeruertza Resident: When in a Trading Post, Pure Gold Production Line +1 for every Durin operator anywhere in the base (up to 4).

By itself, Pozy gives 20% efficiency to a trade post with 4 Durins, and another +5% per Factory that is producing Gold bars (so usually +10%). Of course this is meant to combine with other operators that produce Pure Gold Production Lines and then compounds together.

A Pure Gold Production Line is gained for every Factory that is producing Pure Gold. And apparently the other operators that can provide these Production Lines are… Tuye and Kirara? Who the hell are they?

Pozy and Tuye combined gives +80% efficiency to a Trading Post, which is the highest duo combo so far. Kirara in this team only adds 30%, which is just an average amount. So we combo that with Proviso (a future operator in An Obscure Wanderer event) and this is apparently the best Trading Post combo so far.

More tangent notes: Proviso is also apparently really cracked as she is the only 5* who can pay off her E2 promotion in months rather than years. It gets to a point where you might actually have to go for 3 or even 4 Gold Factory just to keep up the gold  bars production, which boosts Pozy and Tuye even further.

ATK +50%, each attack has a 30% chance to increase damage to 160%, 25 SP cost, 0 initial SP, infinite duration.

Offensive Recovery, auto activation

M3 gives ATK +60%, 40% chance to increase damage to 225%, 20 SP cost

Offensive Recovery means she has to make 25/20 attacks to charge her skill up, which is about 40/32 seconds of constantly attacking. While her short range does make that harder than usual, it’s still fairly short for an infinite skill’s standard. Plus she’s a sniper, so she has 1 more SP battery than usual. *cough*

Of course, the Typewriter has this skill too.

However, note that the Typewriter’s attacks do not give Pozy SP for her skill.

Point her toward things, let her shoot for a bit, she shoots harder afterward. Call in reinforcement for -DEF debuff and more damage if needed.

It has a really high damage output. Pozy gets +60% ATK and a 40% chance to deal 225% of that new ATK, making it 360% of her base ATK. Combine that with the Typewriter having the same thing, this skill is one of the strongest consistent DPS skills.

But really though, it’s hard to recommend this skill, simply because her other 2 skills are, uhhh, let’s just see it now.

Passive: Reduce Typewriter’s redeployment time to 60% (or by 40%)

Active: Immediately attacks the target 3 times, each hit dealing 200% physical damage.

10 SP cost, 6 initial SP, instant cast, can hold 2 charges.

Auto Recovery, manual activation.

M3 Passive: reduces Typewriter’s redeployment time to 50%; Active: each hit dealing 230% damage.

9 SP cost, 9 initial SP.

There’s a hidden thing the descriptions don’t tell you. This skill has a range expansion when used. It doesn’t change her basic attack range. It’s similar to Bibeak’s S1 where the skill’s secondary effect has a larger range than her normal attack range.

Of course, the Typewriter can use this skill as well, whenever Pozy uses hers, similar to Ling S2. Though it does not have the range extension that Pozy has.

Unlike Ling S2, Pozy cannot use this skill without enemies in her own range. Be mindful of it when you’re using this skill. This has to be an intentional nerf as HG is clearly capable of coding it to be global like, well, Ling S2.

The Typewriter fires its S2 shot instantly, while Pozy shoots hers a short bit later. This is likely to apply the -DEF debuff before Pozy’s shot when you’re doubling up this skill on the same target.

The fact that it can hold 2 charges means you can use both in quick succession and inflict a very strong burst of damage, especially against a single target.

This is also not mentioning the passive effect of reducing Typewriter’s redeployment time by half (at M3). That’s now 20 seconds for the Typewriter. And this skill gains max charges after 18 seconds. Heck, just at SL7, its redeployment time is 24 seconds, and it needs 20 seconds to gain max charges.

Because Pozy can’t use this skill without an enemy in her range, this skill can’t be used for pseudo-global snipe at all times. But that doesn’t mean it can never do that. If Pozy is the main DPS for a lane, she can then extend that to a different area, making it capable of handling 2 lanes at once, especially if the secondary lane doesn’t have much traffic.

You can also double the damage up and help Pozy handle elite enemies easily, especially since she will now benefit from the -DEF debuff. And it has a significantly shorter cooldown than her third skill, meaning she can deal with constant elite spawn.

And, even without the ability to use this skill through the Typewriter, that thing is still strong and flexible as heck as I have presented in the Talent section. And now it’s redeployment time is only 20 seconds. You can have it go to a lot of places to deal with issues everywhere.

This skill starts with 1 charge on deployment. This means you can deploy Pozy, deploy Typewriter, and immediately use S2, making it a very strong “on-deploy effect” when needed.

The “range extension” also helps with letting Pozy reach more enemies as well as giving it a better chance to actually use the skill to begin with (again, this skill can’t be used without an enemy in Pozy’s range).

Expands range, reduces attack interval, attacks deal 170% physical damage, increases to 215% against enemies in the 3 frontal tiles.

39 SP cost, 19 initial SP, 27 seconds duration.

Auto Recovery, manual activation.

M3 gives 200% damage, 255% against enemies in frontal tiles, 35 SP cost, 23 initial SP, 30 seconds duration

Here’s the new range with this skill, you may notice that it’s kinda familiar.

As you can see, Pozy gets a range extension in her frontal range. Of course, the same goes for the Typewriter, its range is now 4 frontal tiles.

Her new attack interval is 1 second, the same as a Marksman. Of course, the same goes for the Typewriter.

Despite the game saying “frontal tiles,” it actually also works for the tile they themselves are on, e.g. situations where you can deploy ranged units on melee tiles (or against drones). Of course, the same goes for the Typewriter.

The extra damage to the frontal tiles is checked when the attack lands on the target. Pozy can make a shot when the target is outside of it and then walks into range and takes extra damage. The reverse can also happen and Pozy loses her bonus damage. And of course, the same… doesn’t go for the Typewriter? That thing always deals the bonus damage even if the target zoomed away from its original range.

Use skill, deploy Typewriter, win game. (Step 1 and 2 interchangeable)

This skill and the Typewriter have the same rotation. If you deploy Typewriter and use S3, the thing will last 5 seconds shorter than the skill duration, but its redeployment time is 5 seconds longer. So by the time the skill is ready to be used again, so is the Typewriter. But you can just retreat it earlier if Pozy has already finished her business. Which leads to this next point…

You don’t have to point both Pozy and the Typewriter toward the same enemy. With how much damage each of them can dish out, you can absolutely split them over 2 areas in the map.

Remember that the Typewriter has 4 tiles range with this skill up. If Pozy’s 3 tiles range isn’t enough to reach the enemies, maybe don’t deploy her there and leave that tile for the Typewriter instead.

The skill lasts long enough that Pozy can help clear an entire wave of enemies. It also gives Pozy and the Typewriter a fast attack rate, meaning she can switch to her next target after she kills the current one much easier. Heck, she and the typewriter shoot fast enough that they can clear the LS-4 slugs swarm. Can you imagine a single-target unit capable of doing that? (okay maybe she wasn’t “single-target” but shhh).

That also means that they are dealing enough damage that they can go from killing the boss to killing the rest of the wave, or have one focusing on the boss and the other focusing on killing the mobs.

It’s also important to remember that Pozy doesn’t lose that much damage when not attacking enemies in her frontal tiles. The damage per hit only drops from 255% (267.75% with her module) to 200%. This is great in case that there’s not enough tiles that can point straight at the enemy, so Pozy can scoot over and leave that spot for her Typewriter instead. Of course, you have to plan this ahead of time, but that’s an easy task.

ARC–У: Typewriter Ribbon

• Stage 1:

HP +130

ATK +55

Trait upgraded: High-accuracy point-blank shot. When attacking enemies in the frontal range, increases ATK to 105% and ignores evasion. (new effect)

Overall, quite a solid upgrade.

However, the damage boost is meh. It boosts her S1 damage to 168% of her base ATK and crit damage to 378%, S2 damage to 241%, and S3 damage to 267.75%.

The “solid upgrade” came from its secondary effect: the ignore evasion. With True Damage and Fartooth being the few in the game that can bypass evasion so far (just wait til HG releases an enemy with True damage Dodge woooooo), this adds another option to deal with them. Get this module if you’re tired of all the evasion. However, HG have toned down a bit on evasion enemies so it's not that critical anymore.

Do note that this module DOES NOT affect the Typewriter, neither the damage boost nor the evasion ignore.

• Stage 2 (stats boosts do not stack, only replace):

HP +150

ATK +65

Talent upgraded: Can use a stronger Typewriter that lasts for a certain duration. The Typewriter has the same skill as Pozy and an independent Redeployment Time. (Typewriter has ATK +50)

• Stage 3:

HP +170

ATK +75

Talent upgraded: Can use an even stronger Typewriter that lasts for a certain duration. The Typewriter has the same skill as Pozy and an independent Redeployment Time. (Typewriter has ATK +70)

Analysis: a simple and fairly decent upgrade, but given the cost of a mod3, there are better upgrades out there. Also this is basically a module just for Typewriter, since Pozy also gets +75 ATK with this module. If you need even more damage from Pozy, here you go.

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However, given the trend of 6* getting 2 modules, Pozy will (eventually) get ARC–X as well, which reduces her redeployment time by 25 seconds. This module branch is also very effective for her, especially with S2. They clearly designed S2 with ARC-X in mind, since it has 1 charge ready upon deployment. The upgrade would probably boost her second talent… probably.

However, this is going to take a long time. Second modules are being released quite slowly, especially for someone as strong as Pozy.

Pozy is one of the stronger units in year 4. She’s versatile, shoots hard, shoots fast, has far reach, ignores dodge. Just the nature of the Typewriter already gives her a powerful kit to play with, but then Pozy’s skills are also amazing on their own without even using the Typewriter. And THEN her module also gives her a solid counter to evasion, which allows for some nice Quality-of-Life when playing against them.

• S1 is the simple, consistent, infinite duration, DPS skill. Not much more to say other than that it has an absurd consistent DPS, and can even get higher with the help of Typewriter’s own damage and -DEF debuff.

• S2 is a flexible skill that can either be a strong burst or a strong elite delete button when the enemies spawn a little too fast for S3. It is also a decent counter against -ASPD debuff as her skill still charges up normally even if she attacks slower.

• S3 is the most important skill, easily. It can handle large mob waves or kill bosses effectively. Sometimes it can even handle both in 1 skill activation, especially with the help of the Typewriter. Even when the rotation of this skill matches perfectly with the Typewriter redeployment time, you don’t have to specifically use them together.

Here’s a fun thing about S3. I said earlier that its rotation matches perfectly with the Typewriter. The Typewriter lasts 5 seconds shorter than S3 duration but has 5s longer redeployment time than S3’s cooldown. Pozy’s potential 5 boosts the Typewriter’s -DEF duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds, the same as the missing duration. P2W game smh my head. in case you haven't realised that was a joke.

Regardless of which skill Pozy uses, the Typewriter can go elsewhere to split the damage up to multiple areas. It’s invincible so there’s no risk at all to using it other than 5 DP cost and a tile. This means that Pozy, while being a single-target sniper, has the ability to handle 2 areas at once.

The Typewriter can fire at its target with impunity. It’s the best part about this thing. It can be deployed in Sandstorm; it can be deployed within range of any ranged enemies; it can be deployed in Dominion without taking -ASPD debuff; it can shoot at Crawler without fear!! (everyone else around them, on the other hand…)

With her mod Y1, she can ignore evasion when attacking enemies in the frontal tiles, giving her a solid niche that is only replaceable by Fartooth and True Damage dealers… or, you know, you can also read the mechanic on how to disable their evasion. But who even reads anyway? …Wait a minute.

But anyway, Pozy is a powerful 6* Heavyshooter that will bring a lot of value to almost any player. She also can do almost everything that Schwarz, the current 6* Heavyshooter, can.

Her typewriter has the same 4 frontal tiles range as Schwarz S3. Her Typewriter has the same (or shorter) redeployment time than Schwarz with modX. Given that Pozy is still around charging her S3, that means the Typewriter can be deployed and instantly use S3, whereas Schwarz needs 13SP after deployment. Pozy S3 retains its side range,while Schwarz has to switch to S2, which does less damage, to keep her range. Which begs the important question, what does Schwarz have left?

• Sniper buffers. Her X2 (and 3) mod allows her to buff all snipers just by being there. It’s +11% or +13% ATK (another +2% with pot6) which is technically something?

• Medium redeploy stacking. Her modX reduces her redeployment time to 45 seconds (41 with pot3) which is still longer than the Typewriter by 5 or 1 second(s). But the thing about “fast” redeploy is that they compound when you have more of them. For example, if you already have Ch’en the Holungday, you wouldn’t ever need Executor, Aosta, or even Pinecone. But multiple fast redeploys cover each other extremely well. And Schwarz, with modX, can cover the downtime for the Typewriter. (yea I know, what an existence)

• Ignore evasion. Schwarz with Y3 gives her a lot more damage and more -DEF. But her damage still does not compete against both Pozy and Typewriter. As said, it’s surprisingly rare that Pozy can’t double up with her Typewriter. Therefore, since the Typewriter can’t ignore evasion, Pozy is alone against them (but has -DEF debuff), where Schwarz’s own damage will beat Pozy’s. Schwarz also has 4 tiles of range to ignore evasion, while Pozy only has 3. This only works if the target has high %evasion AND can survive Pozy S3 though, and there aren’t many of those (mostly Chapter 10 boss Manfred H-stages version and Hard Mode IS#2 Phantom boss without relics).

• Overpower. Combine both Schwarz and Pozy and you can kill anything. Maybe they are a bit redundant when combined in a regular team, but it’s not when you just want overkill. Sniper-only players especially would understand this, and Schwarz can then buff Pozy as well.

• Favoritism. I put this one last because, if you like Schwarz, you wouldn’t be changing that even after this guide, so it’s almost a non-factor.

If you read (or remember) my Fartooth guide, there are situations (however rigged it is) where Fartooth’s shorter rotation can help her beat Schwarz even against high DEF. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Schwarz’s shorter rotation against Pozy here. That’s simply due to just how much damage Pozy can dish out during her skill, that she would just beat Schwarz to the chase before Schwarz can get her skill back.

Some people might say that if Schwarz can kill a boss’ first phase with the entire duration of S3, she can then recharge her skill faster in preparation for the second phase. With Pozy, since she’s so powerful, there’s a good chance that she’ll destroy the boss’s first phase with a good chunk of her S3 duration left. Then she has to spend more time to recharge her skill afterward.

The problem with that is bosses don’t stand still. After switching to phase 2, they will still continue on their path, with some invincible duration as well. They will move away from Schwarz’s S3 range anyway, in which case it’s just the same as the redeploying the Typewriter. And again, Typewriter can instantly cast S3 in its next deployment. I also mentioned that Pozy can also go from killing a boss to killing mobs quite effectively as well.

And before you mention that you can just stall the boss in Schwarz’s range, most bosses lately have mechanics that discourage stalling or blocking in particular. For example, the current event’s (Ideal City) boss literally flies, and his non-flying version is pathetic to even mention. You also have all IS#2 bosses, 2 out of 3 IS#3 bosses, Break the Ice’s boss, Guide Ahead’s boss, Il Siracusano’s boss (kinda), Lingering Echoes’ boss,... The list goes on. The exceptions are strangely Chapter 10 and 11’s bosses.

Anyway, time for some videos

• S1

Solo MN-EX-4

Solo NL-9

• S2

Pozy Firewatch WD-8 (I recommend watching this one)

Pozy Ash 6-5 (and this one as well)

Solo DM-8

Pozy Archetto 5-3 CM

Solo 7-11

Solo 6-8

• S3

Solo IC-9

Solo IC-EX-8

Okay the IC stages are a joke because of c a r s but here’s some more

Pozy Schwarz MN-EX-8 CM (Pozy S3M2 btw)

Pozy Pinecone 7-18

Pozy Scene BI-8 (mostly just another showcase that the Typewriter ignores BK’s disarm, this map is not too special)

Pozy SilverAsh Mlynar Texas2 WD-EX-8 CM (focus on Pozy, or mostly Typewriter, soloing EB, since Mlynar and Texas2 are broken as heck)

CC#11 Risk 18 solo

Pozy Ash Schwarz SN-EX-8 (also check out their channel for more Sniperknights content)

So, what do you think about Позёмка? I really like her. She’s a fantastic unit. Okay it’s just mostly the Typewriter. It opens up a lot of strategic play, which does make it fun. Pozy being solid on her own is just an extra bonus on top of it.