Arknights Annihilation 9 [Long Spring Wastes] Tips

Long Spring Wastes is the newAnnihilation mission based on the Originium Dust event. It is also one of the most annoying Annihilation variants, and due to the nature of these missions you’re going to have to run it multiple times a week for 4 weeks in order to obtain all your free Orundum.

In case you’re struggling with it, here are some tips with Operator recommendations and explanations on the multiple gimmicks of this stage!

If you’ve been playing the current Contingency Contract seasonal event, Wild Scales, you are probably already accustomed to the Sandstorm mechanic, but it originated in the event this Annihilation is based on. It works as a nasty debuff to Operators caught in it, halving their Attack stat, dealing 100 True damage per second and greatly increasing their redeployment time if they are retreated while buffeted by the sand.

While it is not incredibly difficult to survive the damage (a single Multi-target Medic should suffice), the Attack debuff is quite devastating and should be avoided at all costs. In order to do so, you should take advantage of the Dirt Mounds, which will block the Sandstorm from whichever direction it blows.

These Dirt Mounds, however, are not infallible, and will still receive continuous damage under the Sandstorm. Not to worry, however, as at the start of the stage you will be given a set number of Reinforcement Devices that, for 5 DP, will fortify whichever Mound they are facing on deployment. Reinforced Dirt Mounds immediately recover all their HP, gain 400 Defense and no longer take damage from the Sandstorm, so you should plan which tiles you plan on deploying Operators on carefully and check that they are protected from the sand by mounds you can reinforce.

Additionally, the Sandstorm will periodically change directions at certain points in the stage, so make sure you take this into account when deciding which mounds to fortify. The storm will blow from right to left at the beginning of the stage, but gradually change to top to bottom and left to right at different times. It will never blow from the bottom of the screen, so don’t worry about that.

Finally, certain enemies become much more dangerous with the Sandstorm, those being the Redmark Infiltrators, who gain a 40% Physical and Arts dodge buff when under the Sandstorm, and the Redmark Eradicators, who can deal massive ranged damage against any Operator caught in the Sandstorm, regardless of distance.

The main gimmick of the Originium Dust event was the introduction of enemies that could spawn more enemies at regular intervals, or split into more on death. Most of the enemies in this mission have this ability, so you will constantly be swarmed by additional Originiutant Excrescences that do NOT count towards the 400 enemy objective. The best way to deal with these is to employ Operators that can constantly hit multiple enemies at once with strong enough attacks to quickly eliminate these pests.

Some archetypes that excel at this are:

• Chain Casters
• Splash Casters
• Blast Casters
• Ambusher Specialists
• Spreadshooter Snipers
• Artilleryman Snipers
• Flinger Snipers

Other Operators outside these archetypes that also work pretty well are Eyjafjalla with Ignition, La Pluma and Blaze.

Perhaps the most annoying enemy of this entire Annihilation are the Originiutant Tumors, weak enemies that can be spawned constantly by Mutant Giant Rock Spider α every few seconds or by Mutant Rock Spider α on death, which generates 3 of these incredibly annoying enemies.

When an Operator blocks these, their Attack Speed suffers a massive debuff of 80, which essentially kills the damage output of even the fastest operators, which can quickly lead to these dangerous enemies reaching more and more Operators, eventually resulting in multiple leaks.

The safest way to get rid of these quickly is by using Ranged Operators that can hit large groups of enemies with high consistent damage. Another way to avoid this debuff is by having your Melee Operators attack from behind others tasked with keeping the Tumors in place, such as most Defenders, but keep in mind that the enemy flow is quite high in this stage, so most Operators will struggle even when supported in this way. If you still want to cover your lanes with some melee damage, however, my personal recommendations would be La Pluma and Blaze, as they can either hit an unlimited number of enemies at once or attack from enough range that the Tumors will have a hard time getting in.

Whenever the Redmark Infiltrators or Redmark Elite Infiltrators receive damage, they immediately spawn a static Mirage wherever they were first hit. As long as this Mirage exists, the Redmark Infiltrators cannot be blocked and have lowered Taunt, so your Operators will not actively target it so long as there are other enemies within range.

This can be a big issue as the Mirage is static, which means it’ll often fall behind enemy lines and not be targeted by your Operators either, so even though the Mirages are weak, they can stay in the field long enough that the Infiltrator will leak. 

Avoid this by either using more splash damage or by simply killing the Infiltrator as it rushes past your melee Operators by using Centurion Guards or Reaper Guards, such as Blaze or La Pluma, or Operators that can hit all enemies within range, such as Spreadshooter Snipers, Phalanx Casters…