Arknights: Should You Pull? Springtide Snowfall: Qiubai

Probably not.

Is Qiubai strong? Yes. If she is your waifu, you probably won’t regret pulling for her here, because she is extremely capable and is likely to perform well, especially if you have other Operators that synergize with her kit.

But unless you’re dead-set on having Qiubai as soon as possible, this is a terrible banner to pull on. Qiubai is replaceable, there is a collaboration banner coming up soon, and the 5★s on display are atrocious. It would be much better to wait until Qiubai comes back on a better banner (or at least a better-timed banner) to roll for her (if you choose to roll for her at all).

As with all banners, a 5★ or higher Operator is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls. Should you pull just for that? Definitely not. Hung has been underwhelming since release and he still blows Wind Chimes out of the water as far as usefulness goes. Neither 5★ is worth your resources.

Ranged/ Lord Guard

+ Enormous multitarget Arts DPS potential on a ground-deployed unit who can hit ground and air enemies with her attacks

+ Does extra Arts damage to enemies affected by Slow or Bind (E1 Talent)

+ Has a chance to Bind enemies when attacking them (E2 Talent)

+ S1 Binds its target and inflicts splash damage

+ S2 Slows ground enemies, does damage multiple times, and changes Qiubai’s attack range into a longer straight line, giving her a little more forward reach than most Lord Guards

+ S3 does massive Arts damage to enemies within an expanded range

= Has stronger CC on her weaker Skills and less CC on her stronger Skills, forcing her to pick (or, more likely, to rely on allies for support)

- Has no RES shred, so high-RES enemies will stonewall her without help

- S2 only affects ground enemies

- S3 is very powerful, but it has poor uptime and does not apply Slow or Bind on its own; Qiubai really needs team support for S3 to reach its full potential

- High investment unit; S3 requires at least S7M1 investment (to increase the damage of her E1 Talent) before it becomes really good

Crusher Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: Very high HP and ATK stats, attacks a number of enemies equal to Block count

+ Gives herself Vigor when above a certain HP threshold (Talent)

= Usual archetype dilemma: Block-2 lets her attack two enemies at once, but also means she’s more likely to Block more enemies than she can handle and die

- Usual archetype weaknesses: 0 DEF and RES means she’s extremely squishy despite her high HP; slow ASPD reduces her DPS despite high ATK

- S2 is undertuned on every possible metric, from damage potential to SP cost to wind-up time to self-survivability to Stun duration

Healing Defender

+ Can be a better damage soak than some other Healing Defenders because his S2 actually mitigates damage (it gives him a DEF buff)

+ S2 provides a lot of team healing and also generates SP for healed allies

= Skills charge when [Getting Hit]; they can charge very quickly during a wave, but they don’t charge at all in between waves

- Can output a lot of healing, but needs to be constantly taking damage to do so (because of the [Getting Hit] SP charge type), so his healing is, on average, less reliable than other members of his archetype

- Not as durable as a Normal Defender, so can’t tank really nasty enemies, even with his S2

Qiubai doesn’t need to touch you to kill you (and her sword doesn’t need to touch you either). Like an action heroine, just one swift swing of her sword sends shockwaves that split the sky asunder. And the slower her target is, the more vulnerable they are to her scintillating swordplay—Slowed or Bound enemies take extra Arts damage from her strikes. And that’s not even accounting for when she unleashes her true power!

Wind Chimes looks like a woman who won’t be stopped by any obstacle in her path, and this impression is correct. She threw her utmost into helping her hometown, blazing trails across inhospitable mountains to assure the future of the village—and when they ignored her efforts, she joined Rhodes Island so she could continue fighting for a better future. As a Crusher Guard, her titanic HP and ATK stats give her an immediate appeal, and her ability to give herself a Vigor buff at high HP doesn’t hurt either.

Hung is in his element wherever the battle rages the most fiercely. As a Healing Defender, he uses his Skills to recover his allies’ HP, but his Skill specifically charge when Hung is [Getting Hit]. In between enemy waves, Hung hangs around like a sad puppy waiting for his owner to come home. But once battle is joined, and Hung is Blocking crowds of enemies? His Skills charge like wildfire, showering his allies with healing, SP, and unconditional affection.