Introduction
Ohhh boy, it's gonna be an exciting set of banners ahead. Really, it started with Goldenglow, but Fiammetta gave us a little break, but now we have a sprint ahead of us through some really strong banners and some resource intensive patches. It's going to give us a lot to talk about.
This article specifically covers the new units from the Chapter 10 - Shatterpoint event, You can find the full version of the guide here, or on the banner below which covers all of the other noteworthy Masteries in the game
FAQ and Banner Discussion
Q: Should I pull?
A: A pretty strong yes for this banner. Of course there is a limited banner likely next, and some very meta units coming out in the relatively distant future. I hesitate to call Horn a can't miss, so if you would rather save for Splatter or Gavial/Pozy or Mlynar, you would likely be fine to skip Horn. But that said, Horn is the third best unit ahead of us (Pozy and Mlynar ahead, Gavial just behind) and the best for the next 4 months at least, so the decision to skip her should not be one taken lightly.
To be clear since I've seen a few people try to claim the opposite, Horn is a meta unit. She has tremendous damage and flexibility and covers a wide variety of roles in a wide variety of teams and gamemodes. She is not a unit you will regret having on your team. But that said, we have a lot of appealing banners ahead of us, so all but the biggest whales will have to make some big decisions to their goals and desires at some point...
Q: I already have <some 6★ defender> and don't feel like I need more Defenders. Is Horn still worthwhile?
A: Yes. It's best not to consider Horn in the same vein as the other 6★ Defenders. The role she fills is very different. To note more generally, this is a poor way to think about Arknights in general. The classes of units often don't have much bearing to their role in the game. While there most certainly can be overlap, the roles that Saria, Mudrock, and Horn all fill are very different and all have room on any given team. This isn't just true in Defenders either, so this is rarely a good question without more context of your team.
Q: Should I raise Rockrock?
A: To clarify something first, you should not pull specifically for Rockrock (unless you personally like her of course). This question is directed at people who pick her up by chance while rolling for Horn.
That said, to raise Rockrock is a maybe. If you've been reading my guides for any length of time, you've no doubt seen me say the same things again and again regarding 5★ Casters. And I'll say it again here. It's hard for them to find space when you have the cheap and reliable Click, the mandatory Amiya, and the vast power gap to the 6★s. That's still true here with Rockrock, but with an exception that bears some extra consideration. Rockrock actually has DPS and total damage that rivals the best 6★ ST Caster DPS skills, so if you find you are really hurting on Arts damage, she can be a pretty viable consideration. Much more so than most of the other 5★ Casters.
Of course, she is still a 5★ so her high total damage and high DPS do come with pretty severe drawbacks. She lacks any sort of RES shred, limiting her targets. Her self-stun is extremely long. She has a long wind up to get to her real potential. And so on. To be clear, Rockrock is not a meta unit and if you have even a modest Caster core you will probably find limited use out of her, making her not worth the resources. But she does have the highest base damage of the non-6★ options and is probably the most viable after Amiya and Click, so she's at least something to consider.
Q: Should I raise Chestnut? Is he a better option cost wise over one of the Berries?
A: No. Well, he is really cheap as a 4★ so he can be an alright stop-gap, but either Berry will be a significant improvement in a very strong archtype, so your long term goal should be Honeyberry or Mulberry, and not Chestnut. Even if you do use Chestnut in the interim, he isn't worth the E2 or Mastery costs, so stick with the lower cost promotions, if any at all.
Q: Any thoughts on IS#3? Will it affect the grades at all?
A: I have a lot of thoughts on IS#3, but as I write this it is still relatively new so I'll save most of them for a later time. I'll get into some of them below, but broadly speaking I don't expect any massive grade changes. There's likely to be adjustments (Honeyberry gains on Mulberry for example) and some additions (W S1 looks quite good), but for the most part, the good skills and units are still good.
That said, IS#3 adds a tricky bit of nuance as far as the Mastery grades go. The baseline level for it is easier than IS#2, but the top tiers of difficulty are significantly harder. So much so that Mastery suggestions like these tend to fall apart with a meta more akin to a particular CC (that is, it highly focuses on particular units well suited to the niches of the stages). That makes grading particularly hard. For example, Thorns is still a tremendous unit... up until around difficulty level 10, at which point he disappears from the meta completely (he's too slow and fragile to keep up). Should that hurt his grades when he's still such a monster at the rest of the mode? I don't have a complete answer to that yet, but I do lean towards no since he will still be extremely valuable to a majority of players. The sorts of people pushing the high difficulty levels are probably not the sorts who need a lot of my advice.
If you do want some more practical advice, the best things you can do to help you prepare for IS#3 is rather than focus on Masteries, focus on picking up Mlynar, Pozy, and Gavial, all of whom are extremely meta in the mode. Those three will help you far more than any nitpicking and fine tuning of grades I can give.
Q: Where is the off-meta Mastery guide you were talking about?
A: It's in the works. Given the age of the game and the guide, there's quite a few units, and some I'm even reconsidering as I go, so it's taking quite a bit longer than I'd like. But it is coming!
Chapter 10 - Shatterpoint
Horn
 |
S1M1 | Breakpoint | ||
 |
S3M3 | S+ | S+ | S+ |
|
|
S1M3 | S | A+ | S |
 |
S2M3 | A- | A | A |
Horn is an extremely powerful unit, but also a very expensive one. She is perhaps the strongest M9 candidate when considering her relatively meta value with all of her skills giving different and valuable niches and all of them having pretty strong damage increases over Mastery.
Aside from the S1M1 breakpoint, if you only Mastered one skill, it should be her S3. It is her skill with both the highest total damage and her highest DPS and the one you'll be using overall most of the time. It has very high grades by being the best skill on a meta unit, but there isn't too much nuance with it either. Big attacks go boom.
Nuance settles in after that with there being a division between S1 in S2 for the best secondary target. Most polling shows S2 is the more popular choice which is understandable since it's also a powerful nuke skill. However I would favor S1M3 as the secondary Mastery choice if you don't want to do the full M9. While S2 has some valuable niches over S3 that most definitely makes it a worthy consideration, the two skills do have a lot of overlap. S1 meanwhile has a more unique niche in giving her a very strong sustain, better scaling, and utility which are all very valuable in both IS and SSS.
As said, Horn is an extremely viable M9 candidate, but that is an expensive proposition for your average player. So the ultimate suggestion for Horn is to grab S1M1 and S3M3. If you like her and find yourself using her a lot, grab S1M3 next, and if you really like her, grab S2M3 as well.
Rockrock
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S2M3 | B | None | B+ |
The 5★ Casters tend to be a crowded group, but also a decidedly mediocre bunch. Rockrock stands out among them with her incredibly high damage so she can be a modestly strong consideration among the chaff. Her S2 is really the only skill to consider with her S1 performing worse in all situations except when you just don't let her go into Overdrive ever (at which point, why bother using her over Kjera or Click). However despite her damage potential, her overall role is still a fairly tough one and promotion + Mastery costs are expensive for an only slightly above average unit and that's reflected in her grades.
Chestnut
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S1M3 | None | ||
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S2M3 | None | ||
Chestnut can be a decent medic since the archetype is strong by default, but he has two fatal flaws. For one, he pales in comparison to Mulberry and Honeyberry (who everyone has access to). For two, both of his skills are very limited. His S1 is a mediocre skill in isolation, with a middling utility and a lot of micromanagement required to maximize. And while his S2 has better effects, the range restriction removes one of the biggest advantages of the archetype. Activating S2 can frequently hurt more than it helps! Most people should not spend the resources to Master either of his skills, though if you are especially intent on using him, you will likely find some use in both.
Heidi
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S1M3 | None | ||
Heidi is an interesting unit that will appeal to the more creative types, but her Inspire buff isn’t strong enough to justify the investment for most, not to mention that it doesn’t stack with the far better Skalter. That leaves her ungraded and purely a matter of desire. If you did want to raise her, stick with her S1 first. Aside from ATK generally being more valuable, it does have some competitive numbers for the role and it has some unique niches with its 0-block and its extremely fast initial activation and likewise fast cycle time. Her S2 has uses as well, but is far more niche.
The Grading System
Story vs Advanced vs Roguelike
There are very few absolute answers when it comes to prioritizing upgrades. A major determining factor is what exactly your goals are. Now, there are actually many more types of players than these three, but the most obvious delineation as far as which Masteries to think about comes down to the type of content you're most interested in clearing. If you only find value in first time story clears and risk 18 CC, then your goals will be different for someone looking to reach high-risk (25+) in CC.
Story - A story player is a player who is only interest in rewarded content. This means all normal stages and challenge modes (without added personal challenges), risk 8 on CC daily stages, and risk 18 on CC permanent stages
Advanced - An advanced player here is any player interested in non-reward topics such as higher risk CC and more min-maxed gameplay or specialty clears.
A note on the topic of the Advanced grades is that these grades should not be taken as specific advice for a specific CC. There may be an occasional specific note to provide some context or example, but the intention here is to be more general than a particular event and prioritize skills that will be broadly useful in multiple scenarios. A skill appearing once in a high-risk CC is not enough for inclusion here as CCs tend to lend themselves to niche scenarios that can't really be planned for. Further still, Advanced grades encompass all min/maxed gameplay and do not, strictly speaking, have to be about CCs.
Roguelike - These grades are specific to the Integrated Strategies game mode (aka, the Roguelike mode or IS#2). These grades are slightly different compared to the Story vs Advanced delineation since the same sort of pressures apply in the mode regardless of the type of player you are. These grades tend to be more "meta" focused than the others. For a lengthier discussion on why this is, please check out the main Roguelike mastery guide linked below. I've excluded most of the discussion from the main guide, simply because this guide is already long enough as it is.
Additionally, please check out the main Roguelike guide for more in-depth operator specific discussions specific to that mode. Although I have updated most write-ups in this guide to reflect all of the grades, some of the nuance on the best picks won't come across as well here, and the main Roguelike guide will provide a better analysis of who is a strong pick.
The Grades
S - These Masteries are the cream of the crop. They are Masteries that everyone with the unit should do and give a high priority to. Units with S tier Masteries get an outsized value from them, either because the skill is incredibly powerful or because it changes how the unit is used. For the Roguelike mode, S-tier grades are reserved for the best skills on the most meta of units (whereas meta value is not necessarily a requirement in other mode grades).
A - These Masteries are powerful Skills that most players who have the unit should do. These are among the most powerful Masteries in the game, but less overtly overpowered than the S-tier Masteries.
B - These Masteries are reasonably powerful and worthy of consideration, but have a factor which hold them back. The impact may be relatively small for the cost, the unit may not be especially powerful already, the unit may not fit well into the meta, or there may be a better version available, among other examples.
C - These Masteries are strong enough to be noted, but should only be done by the most end game of players with nothing else to do. There's value in them, but most players will have something better to be doing.
Breakpoint - Not a true grade, but a designator given to an M1 that gives an unusually large benefit. In most cases, these should be prioritized immediately after the E2, thanks to their low cost and high value. Note that there are many M2 and M3 breakpoints but they are not considered breakpoints for this purpose as the cost is much more expensive. Also note that some breakpoints on valueless skills are excluded as well.
NG or None - Not a true grade, but these are sometimes used for Skills which are noteworthy but not worth Mastery. Either the skill or unit is not worth using, or the Mastery has very poor Mastery gains. NG stands for "No Grade".
Please remember all rankings here are considered independent of E2 priority, but do consider overall unit strength. And most importantly, these grades should be treated as guidelines rather than absolute requirements.
Mastery Look Ahead
As usual, the new chapter 11 units are very new so I'll wait for a full writeup. However the banner only has one skill especially important for Mastery, so I'll leave a quick writeup below for now. Gavial also got an updated writeup with new suggestions, so be sure to check that out if you were relying on my previous writeup.
| Stultifera Navis | ||
| Lumen | Welfare | Lumen had a lot of hype around him on release which has rightly tempered a bit. He is still a very strong medic though, so it's a good thing he's welfare and we don't have to worry about deciding to pull him or not! Regardless of how you feel about him meta-wise, his S3 is his best skill and will garner the highest Mastery grade with the other skills unlikely to be graded. The windup time can be rough but it provides amazing HPS as well as instantly removing ever dangerous stuns which is both a unique and very powerful niche across many different game modes. |
| Windflit | Gacha | Another very disappointing and undertuned 5★, and worse, one who butchered one of the more interesting archetypes with incredibly poor numbers and a perplexing restriction (he'd be bad even with no restriction). Even Supporter specific players will find very limited use out of him. That leaves him as a husbando-only promotion, though those players may find use in both skills depending on how you're trying to use him. |
| Irene | Gacha | Irene is what happens when a Swordmaster is released in year 3 instead of year 1 (like Ch'en). She has very powerful burst damage that can hold up against even tough enemies. Although her damage is not as overtly broken as the top-tier of DPS units which keeps her from being a 'must-pull' sort of unit, the fact she has such strong burst holds a ton of value for all sorts of players (she has make high risk CC appearances, is a very strong starting IS pick, and destroys story mode enemies). There's a good chance that all of her skills get a grade, though give a very strong favor to her S3 which is where her power lies. S1 and S2 are both very good with strong Mastery gains, but have much more niche usage and will lean more towards luxury investments instead of necessities like her S3 is. |
| Specter the Unchained | Gacha Limited | Initially panned (rightly) on her release, Specter's Alter has gotten one of the best modules in terms of how it improves the unit. Her meta value is still in question, but she at least improves past her 5★ self a bit. It will make grading her quite difficult as a module level 3 is very expensive for a task that can usually still be accomplished by her far cheaper base form. Regardless, her best Mastery is S2 since S3 remains a very subpar damage skill for a 6★ even with mod 3. But S2's priority will depend on if you plan to go for her mod 3. If no, then it's a luxury. If yes, then it's a necessity. |
| Contingency Contract #9 - Operation Deepness | ||
| Erato | CC Welfare | Erato is an "if you have to ask, don't bother" sort of unit. There is potential in her kit, but similar to Kafka, there's no improvement on her primary factor (the sleep) over Mastery. Plus since her sleep is single target, it doesn't fit in well with existing sleep stall cycles. Her S2 may be an option for waifu purposes as it is the better damage skill, but overall her DPS is underwhelming so she's unlikely to be graded at all despite the potential. |
| Lingering Echoes | ||
| Czerny | Welfare | I will confess that I don't really have a good feel for Czerny. He isn't really a unit that inspires a lot of interest and there's been very few highlights of him so far. He can make a decently functional RES tank with his S1 which is a modestly rare niche, though the lower rarity Matterhorn does that role better and already barely sees usage. That leaves his S2, which is a fun skill, but one without particularly impressive numbers. If you wanted an offensive oriented Arts Protector, you'd be better off with Shalem, so Czerny will probably not have any graded skills. |
| Hibiscus the Purifier | Gacha | I'm quite fond of Hibiscus' design (both aesthetically and as a unit) and she will definitely find usage in various NicheKnights clears. However, as a general unit, the numbers aren't quite there to make her anything too special, although she is the best hybrid dps/healer so far. Both of her skills are options. You will probably want to focus on her S2 which is her more unique skill, though its low total damage and limited targeting gives plenty of room for her S1 to be useful despite being quite a basic skill. |
| Ebenholz | Gacha | There's been a lot of discussion on if Ebenholz is any good or not. Of course I will give my opinion here, though be warned there is still a lot of on-going discussion on him and my opinion could very well change. That said, I don't have an especially favorable view of Ebenholz, although I don't quite think he is awful either. His elite/boss killing niche is strong enough to be quite useful in Story content, but his kit is designed in a way where he doesn't have an easy way to generate charges once they're spent, and he is only really effective if the elites/bosses come in one at a time. To me, this makes him a unit that makes for nice Youtube highlights, but a difficult one to reliably use as a regular part of the team. If you plan to use him, you'll probably want to do both S2 and S3, though favor S3 if you only did one. S3 is the more important skill for his niche, while his S2 is the better option for general Caster duties (something better done by Goldenglow or Eyja). |
| Dorothy's Vision | ||
| Astgenne | Welfare | As a 5★ that only does straight damage, she will always be limited in a meta context, but Astgenne is a pretty good unit among other 5★ Casters at least. She fixes a lot of the issues Leizi has with shorter cycles and stronger damage which makes her perfectly usable. However she takes a lot of investment between Masteries and Modules, plus lives in that unfortunate gulf of competing with the free, strong, and mandatory Amiya. That makes her a waifu option only, but at least a pretty good one. S2 is by far her better skill as S1 doesn't have enough damage on it to justify its use. |
| Greyy the Lightning Bearer | Gacha | Greyy grew up pretty nicely with his new alter form. Once a joke at the tail end of the 4★ rarity, he now has a fairly solid niche in his extended range control and solid area damage. Sniper players especially will find him very valuable but unfortunate RNG and 5★ stats will keep him out of the general meta still. His S2 is his best skill by quite a bit, though his S1 will have some small niche value as well with a more consistent slow for its duration. |
| Dorothy | Gacha | Dorothy is reminiscent of Ling in many ways, but without the baggage of bogging down your team slots. There is a lot of powerful potential with her kit, but like the 5★ trappers, it's a kit that requires a lot of investment, both in resources and in effort. She is certainly not an easy unit to get maximum value out of, so for many she may come across as more of a luxury then her potential would indicate. Like all trappers, her Masteries are valuable (near mandatory) since they reduce the cycle of her traps and all three of her skills have value. Her S3 is probably the best target with its superior damage, though her S1 and S2 both have very appealing niches. She'll be an M9 candidate for some players, though an M0-M3 for others. |
| Ideal City: Carnival in Endless Summer | ||
| Minimalist | Welfare | Minimalist is a very usable unit, but he is yet another entry into the 5★ Caster realm. They are plentiful these days and all have similar issues finding their way onto teams or justifying the resources. With only pure DPS and no other utility at his disposal, he is just one of many options at the role. If you are reading this look-ahead now, you're very unlikely to need Minimalist by the time he is released on global. There are many alternatives and nothing he brings is worth waiting that long for. With that in mind, his S2 is his best skill with valuable Masteries and is a very rare example of a consistent Caster skill, especially at the non-6* rarity. |
| Cantabile | Gacha | Cantabile continues the tradition of 5★ Vanguards being surprisingly meta. She is an extremely versatile unit, especially in a CC context where her initial burst of DP is incredibly valuable, while the fact she's a Vanguard can get around many risk bans that otherwise would make FRDs unviable. Do be a little wary for pure Story players though as those roles aren't as valuable there. For Advanced players, she is an easy M6 with both skills being important. For Story though the difference is quite close so the M6 is probably unnecessary. I would give a slight favor to S2 since the Mastery gains are more important to using it effectively. |
| Gavial the Invincible | Gacha Limited | Since her release, Gavial has proven to be a very flexible unit and a mainstay in IS#3. She largely fits into the cornerstone role despite having limited self sustain, and does so using her tremendous quickly activated burst and bulk, something the other cornerstones tend to lack. I will backtrack on my initial look-ahead suggestions a little since S2 has far proven itself more useful than S1 is. In fact, S2 is probably only a shade under S3 in terms of priority so you should plan to M6 Gavial. You will find both S2 and S3 to have tremendous usage in different circumstances. S1 may still have its uses, but the damage just doesn't compare so it ends up far more niche and will likely be ungraded. |
| Pozyomka | Gacha | Pozy is the real winner on the banner. Think Schwarz, if she could summon a second Schwarz that was also an April and didn't take deploy slots. Her damage is absolutely ridiculous with her summon alone doing as much damage as Schwarz S3 normally does and on a similar cycle. Pozy's S3 will be in the tier of highest graded Masteries. Her S1 and S2 will both be strong considerations as well, though like many meta units, her S3 outshines them in a majority of cases. I favor S2 over S1 for a secondary Mastery, though that could change by Global release. |
| An Obscure Wanderer | ||
| Provisio | Gacha | She is essentially the 5★ version of Podenco, which makes her pretty decent. However, Proviso lacks an important feature of Podenco in cost effectiveness. Proviso costs quite a bit more for what is ultimately a fairly minor upgrade, so she is unlikely to get a grade. Go with S2 if you want to do one anyway, which a lot of people will thanks to her base skill (but don't raise units only for base skills!) |
| Mlynar | Gacha | At the risk of starting a war in the comments, Mlynar is a direct powercreep to SilverAsh and anyone arguing otherwise is high on the copium. While SilverAsh most definitely does not become a bad unit and still holds some very important niches that will keep him long-term meta relevant, Mlynar is almost twice as good when it comes to damage. No amount of utility can make up for that. He is the single best unit ahead of us (Pozy is close though) and most people should aim to be pulling for him. His S3 will be among the highest graded Masteries in the game. His S2 might pick up a low grade, but it's a situation where his better skill is just too good to give up. |
| The Legend of Luo Xiaohei | ||
| Luo Xiaohei | Collab Welfare | There isn't a lot to say about this collab unit. He is fine, but nothing special, and you'll be better off just using Arene for your low rarity ranged Guard needs. That said he will definitely appeal to a lot of people and doesn't cost much, so go with S2 if you want to Master a skill which gets a decent increase to his damage output and is the more impactful skill. S1 is certainly a novel skill, but the low damage per hit means it just isn’t that useful for anything but cuteness. |
| Mizuki and the Caerula Arbor | ||
| Highmore | Welfare | Highmore is very similar to La Pluma to the point their S1 is literally identical. La Pluma is still the better unit in general since her ASPD talent is better for what the class does, but Highmore will still be a very viable alternative (or addition, double reaper go brrrr). This is especially true in IS#3 where she is the better pick with some big advantages thanks to her mode specific talent. There is a much bigger difference across their S2s however, with Highmore’s being far less valuable. The bulk that her S2 brings isn’t as useful and is much more niche in addition to some pretty poor gains. Stick with just her S1 for Mastery which makes her a very consistent and reliable option in IS#3. La Pluma will perform better elsewhere though. |
| Chapter 11 - Return to Mist | ||
| Stainless and others | Mixed | Normally I’d put something in the introduction but I did want to say a bit more than appropriate for that space. I’ll save the full writeup on the new units for the next update since I like to let new units marinate a bit before making too final of judgments. However this looks to be an very weak patch without much to discuss so I’ll add some quick thoughts here since I know some people are interested. Paprika has no utility and a bad gimmick in a role few people use anymore to begin with. Dadga is reminiscent of a year one unit, not a year three unit (that is to say, super bad). Totter is… fine for what he is I guess. He isn't bad but he is still a 4★ in a low DPS archetype with a weak niche. The only good unit on the banner is Stainless, and his only skill especially worth Mastery is his S3. I’m actually pretty happy with him and he looks like a lot of fun. S3 doles out some really good damage (300% damage multiplier is huge) and favors creativity, though requires specific setup that won’t be worth the trouble for a lot of people or viable on some maps. His S2 is fine and should have a niche as well, but the Mastery gains on it are really poor. And last his S1 is a trap skill, trading significant issues in cycle time and placement that most people are overlooking in exchange for a tiny gain compared to other buffers. It will probably still pick up a low grade though thanks to large gains. |
