Arknights CN: Anniversary Livestream Announcements: W as an Operator, Sparking System, Collab With Ubisoft, and More!

Special Thanks and Translation Credits: Jetroyz, Nightsky, and Peacecow

UPDATE: The updates are now complete, and all of the major announcements from the Livestream should now be in along with images.  If I missed anything, please let me know.  Sorry it took so long, it was a lot of info!  Cheers!

Major Announcements Summary

• W is the new Limited Operator

• NO Kal'tsit!
• Collab with Ubisoft (no further details)
• Pity System (after 300 pulls you are guaranteed the Operator)
• New Chapter 7: [The Birth of Tragedy] with Patriot as final boss.
• Past Story elements available for replay
• First event rerun: Obsidian Festival (Not Grani)
• Tons of new Skins (Amiya, Ange, Saria, Lappland, Executor, Greythroat, Midnight, and Beagle)
• Outside of W, 11 New Operators announced: 2 with W on her banner, 1 robot, 2 Units to come with Summer, 6 other new units teased.
• New Operators added to Recruitment: Ch'en, Swire, Greyy, Popukar,Spot, THRM-EX (new robot)
• New playable dungeon crawler-type mode, Operators chosen randomly.
• Next CC Event coming in June
• W gets a Dorm!

Other Announcements Summary

• Anniversary Packs available for sale
• External Collabs (In China only)
• New Merchandise, including plushies and Nendroids
• New CN Summer Event will feature Gavial
• An exclusive song for Arknights by Starset
• Daily free pull for 2 weeks
• Free 10 pull.

• Total number of Slugs Killed since launch:

• Usage popularity for 3★ and 4★s:

• Most-recruited Operators

1. Melantha

2. Beagle

3. Orchid

4. Lava

5. Gravel

6. Hibiscus

7. Plume

8. Ansel

9. Kroos

10. Adnachiel

• Most common Operators assigned to the Base:

1. Jessica

2. Haze

3. Fang

4. Vanilla

5. Vigna

6. Shirayuki

7. Cuora

8. Kroos

9. Meteor

10. Amiya

• Total number of Gold Bars traded, and the equivalent value in LMD

• Number of Doctors who E2’d Amiya: 587,991

• Number of Doctors that also max leveled their E2 Amiya: 11,455

• Most common 5★ Operators to E2

1. Texas

2. Ptilopsis

3. Lappland

4. Blue Poison

5. Meteorite

6. Amiya

7. Zima

8. Skyfire

9. Platinum

10. Specter

• Most common 6★ Operators to E2

 1. Silverash

2. Exusiai

3. Eyjafjalla

4. Siege

5. Saria

6. Hoshiguma

7. Ifrit

8. Shining

9. Ch’en

10. Nightingale

• Most often used Support Operators in the recent CC #0 Event

 1. Saria

2. Hoshiguma

3. Silverash

4. Blaze

5. FEater

6. Hellagur

7. Siege

8. Myrtle

9. Lappland

10. Nearl

• Number of Doctors who reached rank SSS in the Permanent Stage of CC #0 (Risk Level 18)

If you happened to miss a past story Event, or just wanted to relive those precious moments, you have probably been frustrated by the lack of a function to re-play past story events.  This problem will someday be gone, as they will be adding a story playback function.  I see this requested quite a bit, so it will be a welcome addition!

Chapter 7 is on it's way soon!  And with it arrives a new story Arc, new enemies, and a new final boss to oppose us!  The story will include Talulah, and will have Patriot as the final boss.

• Patriot Info: He is defensive in nature, and will buff his allies. He has a form change, after which he becomes offensive.
• Images of some of the new enemies:

Event Period: 16:00, May 1st - 03:59, May 15th 

Event Description: During the event period, the following operators will have increased rates in the event recruitment:

★★★★★★ W[Limited] \ Weedy (70% of 6★) 

★★★★★ Elysium (50% of 5★)

Note:

• This event recruitment is a 【Limited Recruitment】
• New operator [W] can only be obtained in this [Limited Recruitment], won't join any [Standard Recruitment] 
• New operator [Weedy] and [Elysium] will join other [Standard Recruitment] after 04:00, May 14th 
• For detailed description, please refer to related notices.

New Spark/Pity System

A new pity system will be added to the Limited Banners.  Here are the details:

• Every pull on the limited banner will award 1 [Recruitment Data Contract].
• 300 [Recruitment Data Contracts] can be exchanged for 1 rate-up operator (did not specify if it was selectable or if it only rewarded W).
• [Recruitment Data Contracts] will be converted into [Recruitment Data Models] at 1:6 ratio after the banner ends, which can be exchanged for materials in the shop (no details yet on the shop, Contract do not carry over to next banner).

For those that pulled on Nian's banner, some of this will be applied retroactively:

• After May 1, all players will be given [Recruitment Data Models] based on the number of pulls they did during Nian’s banner (1:6 ratio).
• When Nian banner is rerun, players will be given [Recruitment Data Contracts] equal to the number of pulls they did during the original banner, which can be used for the rerun banner.

Class: Sniper

Archetype: AoE Sniper

Trait:  Attacks deal AOE physical damage

Talent 1: After staying on the battlefield for several seconds, obtain a certain amount of Physical and Arts Dodge, and become less likely to be targeted by enemies

Talent 2: Stunned enemies within attack range take increased physical damage

Skill 1: Immediately fire a grenade, dealing physical damage and stunning the targets for several seconds.

Skill 2:  The next attack changes to planting a landmine on an open grid within attack range (has a long duration); The landmine will explode when enemies pass over it, dealing physical damage to all nearby enemies and stunning them for several seconds

Skill 3:  Place a bomb on several enemies with the highest HP within attack range; The bombs will explode after a certain duration, each dealing physical damage to all nearby enemies and stunning them for several seconds.

Class: Specialist

Archetype: Pusher

Trait: Attacks enemies equal to block count; Can be placed on ranged grids

Talent 1: Can place a water cannon that lasts for a certain duration; The water cannon attacks a single enemy and pushes them away

Talent 2: Increase the water cannon's push force by 1 level. If the water cannon is placed adjacent to Weedy, recover additional SP to Weedy at regular intervals.

Skill 1: The next attack pushes the targets away, dealing physical damage and stunning them for several seconds

Skill 2: Increase Attack interval (slower attack speed) and increase ATK. Normal attacks change to long range AOE attacks which push enemies away. Infinite duration.

Skill 3: Immediately fire a shot of compressed LN2, dealing AOE Arts damage and pushing enemies away. Enemies hit will receive true damage proportional to distance moved over several seconds. If the water cannon is adjacent to Weedy, it will also fire the same shot.

Date: 16:00, May 1st Update

Description: After update, the following Operators will be added permanently to [Recruitment]:

★★★★★★ Ch'en

★★★★★ Swire

★★★★ Greyy

★★★ Popukar

★★★ Spots

★ THRM-EX

NOTE: THRM-EX is a new Robot Operator:

6 More new Operators were shown at the end of the Livestream, but no additional information was given.

Event period: 16:00, May 1st - 16:00, May 31st

Eligibility: All player registered before 16:00, May 1st (including guest)

Event Description: A mail including 5★ operator [Savage] *1 will be sent when the event begin.

Note:

Players who already [Savage] will get [Savage] Token *1 instead.

Some amazing new skins will be coming as well!

Saria

Angelina

Lappland

Greythroat

Executor

Midnight

Beagle

Free Amiya Skin

And W gets her furniture Theme!  Time to put her and Flamebringer in the dorm and wait for the magic to happen.

There will be a new game mode introduced that has been described as a dungeon crawler, or rogue-like.  Random gacha Operators will be assigned and must be used to complete your missions.  Not much information is available yet on exactly what this might look like or when it will be live.

A collaboration with Ubisoft was announced, but no details were given about what this might entail.

Upcoming Event Roadmap:

The upcoming new summer event will feature a story about Gavial, and 2 new Operators shown in the image above.

The next Contingency Contract event for CN will be arriving in June.

Reset the Double Originite Prime Bonus in the Originite Prime Store

Date: 16:00, May 1st

Event description: This event will reset the Double Originite Prime Bonus for all price packages of Originite Prime.

[Rhodes Island Anniversary Pack] 

Event Period: 16:00, May 1st - 03:59, May 29th

USD: 46.32

Content:

• 90 Originite Prime
• 1 10x Headhunting Permit
• 200k LMD
• 20 Strategic Battle Records
• 20 Tactical Battle Records
• 100 Frontline Battle Records
• 20 Skill summary-3
• 50 Skill Summary-2
• 4 Chip Catalyst
• 500 Furniture Parts

[Anniversary Invocation Pack] 

Event Period: 16:00, May 1st - 03:59, May 29th

USD: 27.96

Content:

[Top Operator Invocation Permit]: Can choose a 6★ Operator from the following list:

• Ch'en
• Blaze
• Exusiai
• Siege
• Ifrit
• Hoshiguma
• Shinning
• Silverash
• Nightingale
• Ejyafjalla
• Hellagur
• Saria
• Mostima
• Magallan
• Skadi
• Angelina
• Schwarz

• Starset is writing an exclusive song for Arknights that will be released soon.

A new Arknights OST will be coming soon.

An Artbook is in the works that includes interview records.  An exclusive Amiya skin will come with the purchase, the draft of which can be seen here:

Red, Siege, Specter, Lappland, and others will be recreated in plushie form!

Peguins Merchandise?  Tbh I have no idea what the hell this is.

A new Blaze Nendroid

With more on their way

Including a W Nendroid

And a bunch of other cute little... things.

A few external collaborations were announced, though they appear to be pretty much China-only:

Arknights desserts

Arknights Cafes

What, no Arknights brand flamethrowers!?

Each CN Arknights player will get a free 10 pull.  I hope everyone gets W!

One free pull a day will be available to each player.  It cannot be saved, so don't forget to use it!

Here is the free stuff that was given away through the "Roulette" game that was played by the broadcasters during the Anniversary Stream: