Arknights: Azure's Near Light 6★ Selector Tier List

As part of the Near Light event coming after the Pinus Sylvestris event, a new, very special pack will be temporarily added to the Store. For (presumedly) $29.99, this pack contains one Ten-roll Headhunting Permit and, most importantly, a Top Operator Transfer Permit, allowing you to select one of the non-limited 6★ Operators released up to Passenger.

This tier list presents which operators will provide the most bang for your buck if you decide to buy the pack. Remember that Operators are not ordered within tiers. Keep in mind the tier list is purely meta-oriented.

Operators in this tier are on a level of their own above everything else. They have powerful, irreplaceable and versatile niches that cannot be filled by any other Operators, and can be used both in casual play and in harder content (for which they are often almost mandatory).

There's no denying that Surtr is one of the strongest Operators in the game. Thanks to her incredibly powerful burst DPS and undying capabilities, Surtr has been a staple of endgame content ever since her release. For players not that interested in high-risk Contingency Contract she's also one of the best choices of boss-killing, if not the best altogether.

Additionally, her kit allows her to benefit massively from powerful DPS supports such as Saria and Aak.

Very few Operators can claim they've revolutionized the metagame like Bagpipe has. Thanks to the gamechanging interaction between her Talent and Standard Bearer Vanguards, Bagpipe can single-handedly destroy all the early game pressure from most stages. She also shines in endgame content such as Contingency Contract, where most high-risk clears ever since her release have included her.

Also commendable is her incredibly strong third skill, Locked Breech Burst, which can actually put a massive dent into dangerous threats like Elite-level enemies and bosses.

While Bagpipe is the only Operator in this tier who can technically already show up on the Certificate Store, her very recent first appearance in there means we may have to wait quite a while for her to show up again. At that point we may already have another of these Operators available for purchase, so keep this in mind before taking that factor into account.

Despite her status as a Defender, Mudrock actually excels both offensively and defensively thanks to her inredibly powerful Talents, Skills and stat spread.

Mudrock's infinitely regenerating shields grant her a massive amount of survivability against elite threats and bosses, and the self-sustainability from the healing these shields grant let her take on those enemies with little to no support (which is great, considering she cannot be directly healed!).

Her second skill, Crag Splitter, is perfect for holding lanes thanks to its AoE nature and high damage, and despite having Defensive SP Recovery it can be charged fairly quickly due to Mudrock's natural 3 Blocks. On the other hand, her third skill, Bloodline of Desecrated Earth, provides some incredible burst damage, crowd control, and tech possibilites. It also lets Mudrock infinitely stall even more enemies than she would already be able to just with her shields!

If you are not missing any Operators in the previous tier, any of these are bound to have the biggest impact in your account. The Operators in this tier are still very powerful and versatile, even if not as meta-defining as the ones in S+

Ever since the day the game came out, Eyjafjalla has been considered one of the most powerful Operators in the game, and not without reason. She can deliver powerful and consistent AoE damage with her second skill, Ignition, or incredibly strong multi-target burst damage in a massive area with Volcano, her third skill.

While her usage in very late endgame content such as Max Risk Contingency Contract has been phased out in favor of different forms of Arts burst (namely Surtr and Ifrit), there's no denying that she's still the most powerful Core Caster, and will continue being an incredibly powerful option for a really, really long time.

Long gone are the days where people used to call Ifrit "n*che" due to her unconventional range. If anything, you'll see more praise for it today!

Ifrit is extremely powerful in part due to her long range, which lets her deliver incredibly strong blows of true AoE Arts damage to entire lanes of enemies at a time, even if they are very far apart. Ifrit can deliver with powerful consistent DPS with a heavy Defense debuff by using her second Skill, Pyroclasm.

If you'd prefer to delete everything in her range, however, she can equip Scorched Earth, her third skill, for a massive Arts nuke that not only does very high damage, but also debuffs Arts resistance by a flat amount. This makes Ifrit an amazing partner to other powerful Arts nukers, such as the top-tiers Surtr and Eyjafjalla.

SilverAsh has been a staple of the metagame for almost as long as Arknights has existed, and it shouldn't be difficult to see why. Much like what I said about Eyjafjalla before, SilverAsh main trick is his incredibly powerful burst damage with massive range, with Physical damage in this case.

His Melee position and huge range often let SilverAsh snipe multiple lanes at once, and thanks to his Talent not even Stealthed enemies can hide from him. While his best usage is definitely piercing through bosses' Defense, his multi-target capabilities can also be used to clear larger waves of Elite enemies, whether armored or not.

While Thorns may be the definition of a one-trick pony, that does not mean he isn't incredibly good. Contrary to most other Operators on this tier list who specialize in (or at least can opt into) powerful burst, Thorns' bread and butter is his high, long-ranged consistent DPS.

Once Destreza, his third skill, is fully charged up, Thorns will receive a permanent range, Attack and Attack Speed increase that can singlehandedly hold lanes even when there's high pressure. Additionally, his Talent grants him a powerful regen that often lets him do his job without any Medic to support him.

Most people prefer to use Mountain as a laneholder, and that's because he excels at it. Due to his incredibly low deployment cost and fast-to-activate second Skill, which has infinite duration. Sweeping Stance lets Mountain hold off lanes from beginning to end, packing powerful multi-target attacks and an insane regen very few Operators can hope to match.

That is definitely not all he can do, though. With Earth-Shattering Smash, his third Skill, Mountain can deliver some incredibly high burst damage in all 4 tiles around him against up to 4 enemies, while also interrupting their attacks through shifting.

While many people like to pretend that she's "fallen off", Exusiai is still the queen of Physical DPS thanks to her incredibly powerful third skill, Overloading Mode.

Due to the nature of this skill, Exusiai also works incredibly well with other top-tier buffers and debuffers, such as Shamare, Elysium and Warfarin. Still, players with Ash should reconsider purchasing Exusiai if their roster is lacking elsewhere, as they fill a similar role.

Operators in this tier are still powerhouses, but either nor as versatile or powerful in their specific roles as the ones in higher tiers, or are actually best used as powerful supports for those Operators. If you have most or all the Operators in the higher tiers, these will provide a significant boost to their performance or open new ways to handle stages.

While no longer the "prime" laneholder after the release of Thorns and Mountain, Blaze still has some unique qualities that make her quite strong. The extra range on Chainsaw Extension Module, her second Skill, lets her very safely take care of targets blocked by a Defender in front of her, while the huge Attack boost makes her pierce through sturdier enemies. Since she's a Centurion Guard, she can also very easily take care of multiple enemies at once this way.

The one thing that sets Nightingale apart from all the Operators in these very high tiers is that she's neither a DPS unit, nor a support for actual DPS Operators. Instead, her gimmicks allow for the complete trivialization of stages where Arts damage is the main threat.

Even when Arts is not a concern, Nightingale is a cut above many other Operators thanks to her powerful Mirages. These allow for total control of enemy aggro, keeping your Operators safe from ranged attacks even if they are Physical.

Schwarz might be a little harder to use for newer players compared to other Operators in the higher tiers, but her damage output is well worth the hassle. Her powerful, quick-cycling burst allows her to take chunks off multiple elite enemies or bosses' HP without suffering from Defense increases as much as other Physical burst Operators.

Unlike most other Executor Specialists, Phantom a very clearly dedicated DPS support role, and he fills that niche quite well. Thanks to his summonable Phantom in the Mirror he can deliver extremely high on-demand damage to elite targets, regardless of where they are located.

Even if he can sometimes struggle against enemies with higher Defense, Phantom will remain a useful asset for most rosters.

For many people, Suzuran is the prime example of a DPS booster, and it's not difficult to see why. Her Nebulous Foxfire creates a massive area around her that does practically everything you could want from a support skill: it regenerates HP, it slows down enemies, and it provides a massive boost of 40% to all damage you deal.

The nature of Suzuran's third skill makes her a perfect partner to any burst damage composition, regardless of the type of damage or the skill itself. 

Saria is both one of the most powerful and one of the most versatile support Operators in the entire game. She is incredibly tanky and not too expensive to deploy, and her first Skill (First Aid) can very easily cover the healing needs of your entire team on practically any stage in the game. Thanks to how it only activates when needed the most, Saria will never waste a single one of her powerful heals until they are actually needed, making both her and her surrounding teammates incredibly durable.

But if that wasn't enough, Saria can also act as one of the best DPS boosters in the entire game: Calcification, her third Skill, creates a large area around her that heals allies, slows down enemies and boosts all Arts damage dealt by your Operators by a whopping 55%. Not only that, but Saria can also stack these effects with Suzuran, resulting in a gigantic boost to Arts damage that can very effortlessly take down even the most resistant of bosses.

While definitely nowhere near as powerful as Bagpipe, Saga has her own niche in her pretty decent mixture of DP generation and damage. 

Her first Talent also lets her act as somewhat of a support to other Operators, particularly ones with infinite-duration skills. Saga makes a good partner for Thorns as she can feed him SP to get his third skill up quicker.

Operators in this tier may be fitting to expand already well-developed team with more niche options. These Operators are still plenty strong, but are either generally not as versatile, or worse choices than ones in higher tiers most of the time.

Ceobe may often be seen as a weaker option in comparison to Eyjafjalla due to the similar roles they fulfill. While this is not necessarily false, Ceobe has the potential of greater scaling due to her Talent and significantly better average DPS, which she trades any multi-target capabilities for.

In general, players who already have Eyjafjalla should probably consider other options before Ceobe.

Surprise! Passenger used to be one of the absolute worst Operators in the entire game due to his unfortunate archetype, but thanks to all the buffs he's received since his release he has slowly risen up the ranks into a very competent Operator.

While of course nowhere near as good as Eyjafjalla or Ceobe when it comes to burst DPS, his Module addresses some of his biggest flaws and allows him to shine as a great hybrid between AoE DPS and support through his slow.

Archetto is... fine. She's nowhere near the level than her co-archetypal Operators (Exusiai and Ash) are, but she doesn't need to. Her strength comes in being able to take care of multiple enemies at once with her ricocheting arrows, which will open certain strategies not otherwise available for more advanced players.

Still, if you already have your Marksman Sniper needs covered with one of the aforementioned Operators, it might benefit your roster more to look for a different niche to fill.

Aak's main appeal is his ability to massively buff a single Operator by increasing their Attack and Attack speed for a decently long while. Unlike other support Operators in higher tiers who focus on increasing the damage received by all enemies, Aak instead opts to increase the output of a singular ally, necessitating that the player has already raised a strong DPS Operator such as Surtr or SilverAsh.

Additionally, those Operators must be able to survive 15 hits of 500 physical damage each in order to receive Aak's buff, so most ranged options are out of the question. Finally, Aak constantly loses HP while he is deployed, so he also needs additional support from a Medic or some other healing source in order to work. Altogether, this makes Aak more difficult to utilize than most other supports, but still an incredibly strong option when used correctly.

Weedy can be incredibly strong in the right hands and with the right map, but she can sometimes be a struggle to use when there are easier strategies that don't require the map layouts that most often benefit Weedy.

Still, she makes for an excelent tech-oriented Operator that very often sees extensive usage in harder content such as Contingency Contract thanks to her unique set of skills, and players with a well-developed roster will definitely enjoy having the options she provides.

It pains me to have to put Angelina this far down, but the truth is that her niche isn't as necessary anymore. Even still, she can be quite a good source of multi-target damage and slow, plus she is a great pair with Suzuran due to her Talent boosting her uptime quite a bit.

Angelina's most unique and irreplaceable role is as a partner to Weedy, as her weight-reduction effect is completely unique to her kit, and can be turned into massive damage with Weedy's strong push abilities.

Operators in this tier are not necessarily bad, but their usage is too niche to be considered a valuable asset for most rosters in most situations. While they can still provide some battle capabilities no other Operator can, they will generally not be the best solution for any stage and can be replaceable with better strategies or Operators in higher tiers. 

I would recommend reconsidering before purchasing the selector for these Operators.

While these Operators can still work in certain situations, they've now been pushed out of the meta entirely (if they were even in it). There will almost always be a better option than these Operators for whatever role you want to employ them for, sometimes even amongst lower rarity Operators.

I would heavily recommend NOT purchasing the selector for any of the Operators in this tier under any circumstance.