Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Nightingale and Angelina

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Nightingale Angelina
5★	Executor Meteorite Zima

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Angelina and Meteorite.
• 6★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 6★
• 5★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 5★

Yes, but it might be difficult to scrounge up the Orundum, considering this banner is sandwiched between Blaze and Nian. Prioritize Blaze (because she’s broken) and Nian if you want her (because she’s limited) over this banner. It’s also worth noting that the two best Operators on this banner are the ones in the store, so you may not have to pull to get who you want.

However, if you are able to pull, this is an amazing banner. Angelina and Meteorite are crazy-strong, and Zima is one of the better Vanguards. Nightingale and Executor are niche units who absolutely dominate their respective niches. None of these Operators are bad options.  

Even if you can’t spare much for this banner, it might be worthwhile to do Headhunt x1 until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

AoE Medic

+ Serviceable AoE healer

+ Hard-counters enemy Arts Damage

+ Distracts Arts damage away from allies with her Phantoms (E2 Talent)

- Loses value on maps with no enemy Arts Damage

Slower Supporter

+ Massive Arts damage potential to one (S2) or multiple (S3) targets while also causing Slow

+ Is not a Caster but has huge Arts DPS; great on stages where Casters are banned

+ Lots of unique passive benefits (i.e., ally ASPD, HP regeneration, reduce enemy weight)

- S2 and S3 prevent her from attacking unless her Skill is active

Boomstick Sniper

+ Deals tremendous AoE physical damage

+ One of the better Snipers against high-DEF targets because he ignores a flat amount of DEF

= Husbando with a really cool, really fun, double-shotgun-action S2

- Short attack range and slow attack speed

AoE Sniper

+ Strongest AoE Sniper currently available on Global servers

+ Massive attack range and enormous damage potential with crit-chance Talent

+ Can debuff enemy DEF with her S2

- Slow attack speed

- Can struggle against high-DEF targets, even with her S2

Skill-DP-Recovery Vanguard

+ Great defenses; can be a good frontliner when Defenders are banned

+ Buffs the ATK, DEF, and DP gain of all other Vanguards

+ E2 Talent reduces Vanguard DP cost; great on maps with reduced DP gain

- Needs to be deployed with multiple other Vanguards to utilize her full power

- Low ATK when her S2 isn’t active

Nightingale is renowned as the ultimate anti-Arts-damage Medic, and she has earned her reputation in spades. Between her Talents and her Skills, enemy Casters might as well give up and leave the game.

Anytime there is enemy Arts damage on the field, Nightingale is your go-to-gal. Even when all the enemies are physical, she still provides multi-target healing, which is a valuable contribution. However, a lot of her power and utility becomes irrelevant if there’s no Arts damage to block, so in those circumstances, other AoE Medics can outperform her. She’s never a bad choice, though, and enemy Arts damage can be such a headache that Nightingale can be a much-appreciated counter.

I don’t recommend pulling for Nightingale, but she’s well worth investing in if you pull her.

Angelina is a very unique Supporter with an odd drawback: her S2 and S3 prevent her from attacking except when her Skills are active. Can her Skills really be powerful enough to warrant this drawback? Short answer: YES.

Angelina combines the cheap DP cost of a Supporter Operator with enough raw Arts damage to impress a seasoned Caster. She can target single or multiple enemies depending on her Skill, her damage potential is huge, and she Slows whatever she hits. On top of that, Angelina’s kit is packed with benefits for the rest of her team, especially her E2 Talent’s passive global healing—one of the few ways to heal Operators like Hellagur or Vulcan who cannot be directly healed by their allies.

That being said, not being able to attack half of the time is still a big disadvantage. You can run into issues if Angelina’s Skill timing doesn’t sync up with the enemy waves.

I recommend pulling for Angelina, but be careful with her if your in-battle timing isn’t very good.

Executor is the only member of his unique Sniper archetype. He has a short attack range, but he hits all enemies in his range and deals bonus damage to enemies in the row closest to him. Because his Talent ignores a flat amount of enemy DEF, he can blast right through armored enemies and absolutely annihilates weaker targets.

Despite his AoE attacks, Executor can be tricky to use as an AoE Sniper. His short attack range means that he doesn’t have as much time to clear crowds as somebody like Meteorite. However, if you can use Blockers or crowd-controllers to keep enemies in his range, he can exterminate crowds of small fry while still putting a major dent into bulky targets that other Snipers would struggle to damage.  

I don’t recommend pulling for Executor, but he’s worth investing in if you pull him.

Meteorite is very simple to understand. Point at enemies. Watch enemies go boom.

This isn’t a bad thing, either. Between her crit-chance Talent and her automatic S1, Meteorite is beautifully low-maintenance and terrifyingly effective. She has a little utility with her S2, which leaves a powerful DEF debuff on targets, but Meteorite is really all about damage in the best way possible.

I recommend pulling for Meteorite.

Zima is one of the better Vanguards in Arknights, but her power is a little more niche than Vanguards like Texas or Myrtle. Zima’s big selling point is the way she multiplies the power of other Vanguards. Her E2 Talent reduces their DP cost, helping you set up quickly at the start of a fight, and her S2 is a massive buffet of buffs (a buff-et, if you will!) that increases the ATK, DEF, and DP generation of all allied Vanguards.

When used alongside other Vanguards, Zima’s potency can add up to become quite astounding. However, when only one Vanguard is needed or her buffs can’t be fully taken advantage of, then Zima can be quickly outclassed.

If you deploy multiple Vanguards per map, or if you don’t have enough strong Vanguards yet, I recommend pulling for Zima.

If you already have strong Vanguards, I don’t recommend pulling for Zima. She’s worth investing in if you pull her, but only if you like using a lot of Vanguards at a time, so consider that before building her.