Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Mudrock and Hellagur

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Mudrock - Enmity Defender Hellagur - Enmity Guard
5★	Ayerscarpe - Ranged Guard GreyThroat - Anti-Air Sniper Specter - AoE Guard

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Hellagur and GreyThroat
• 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★

If you really want Mudrock (or, debatably, Specter), then yes, it is worth considering, since Mudrock will likely never have a solo rate-up banner since her launch banner has 2 6 stars, but don't forget that this limited banner is on the horizon (so make sure you wouldn't prefer to save for that one before you splurge on this one)

Mudrock’s shields and damage potential make her an unparalleled Defender, and Specter’s capacity to shrug off death has been unrivaled ever since day one. Between them and Hellagur’s self-sustain, this is pretty much the “Immortality Banner.”

Mudrock and Specter are definitely the units to gun for on this banner, but the other three Operators are not that bad either. Hellagur is a decent duelist and solo-laner, GreyThroat is a mini-Exusiai, and Ayerscarpe has a good passive buff to go with multi-target Arts damage potential. These three are not going to be useful for all (or even most) players, but they can fill niches or open up options for those who are interested in them.

Even Doctors who already have Mudrock and Specter might be interested in doing Headhunt x1 on this banner until they pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls. Who wouldn’t like their Mudrock to be higher Potential?

Enmity Defender

+ Has very high base HP and ATK

+ Talent generates “shield charges” over time; each shield automatically negates one instance of damage and heals Mudrock for a percentage of her max HP when triggered

+ S2 does AoE damage to ground enemies around Mudrock, may Stun targets, and recovers a percentage of Mudrock’s max HP

+ S3 makes Mudrock temporarily invulnerable and Slows all nearby enemies; after a delay, it Stuns nearby ground enemies and increases Mudrock’s ATK/ DEF/ number of enemies attacked for the rest of the Skill’s duration

= Has somewhat low base DEF for a Defender, but this can be countered by the shields from her Talent and the invulnerability/ DEF boost from S3

- Usual archetype weaknesses: High DP cost, cannot be directly healed by allies (although regen does work)

- Shield charges are used automatically, so they may trigger to block scratch damage and not be around when you need them

- S2 has [Getting Hit] SP charge type, potentially negating the healing effect, and is not a reliable source of Stun

- The way that S3’s effects occur in two different stages can make it difficult to time correctly

Enmity Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: Extremely high HP and ATK

+ Good for Contingency Contract (CC) events

+ Can 1v1 various kinds of enemies with no help, even big nasties like Avengers and Worldcursers (if RNG is on his side)

= Has Block-1 (typical of Enmity Guards)

= Somewhat RNG-dependent if using S2 

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Can't be healed directly (although regen does work) and has a high DP cost

- Multiple duelist-types that are as good or better have been added to the game since his release, i.e., Mountain, Surtr

- Tends to be less important in regular content, where healing/ Operator choices are less limited and 1v1ing is less valuable

AoE Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: Multi-target attacks that hit a number of enemies equal to Block count

+ Currently the only Operator who can escape death multiple times on a single deployment

+ Talent recovers her HP over time (very powerful combined with her S2)

+ S2 gives her a massive ATK buff and prevents her HP from falling below 1, allowing her to absorb an infinite amount of damage for the duration

+ S2 has very high Initial SP (especially at M3), allowing her to use it as a panic button soon after deployment if necessary

= S2 self-Stuns her when it wears off; this can allow enemies to walk right past her, but it can also save her life by giving her Talent (or an allied healer) time to recover her HP

- Usual archetype weakness: Must be E2’d to increase her Block count (and thus her number of targeted enemies) to 3

- S2 has a short duration, so it must be timed very carefully, especially because of the self-Stun afterwards

Anti-Air Sniper

+ Skills allow her to fire multiple shots at once

+ Her multiple-hit Skills synergize perfectly with her crit-chance Talent

- Talent is very RNG-dependent

- S2 has the [Attacking Enemy] SP charge type, so it doesn’t charge between waves

Ranged Guard

+ Talent increases the ASPD of nearby allies

+ A melee Physical attacker who can do Arts damage to multiple targets with his Skills, which can be useful in some situations

+ S1 is a relatively rare melee Slow option and is multi-target

- S2 requires enemies to be blocked to be dealt bonus damage, but heavy blocking strategies are not common in the current meta, especially for high-level content

- Faces stiff competition from other members of his archetype, i.e., Lappland and Arene

Mudrock was the big boss of the “Twilight of Wolumonde” event, where she was a colossal obstacle for unprepared players. Now Doctors can take revenge by leveraging Mudrock’s considerable power for themselves! As an Enmity Defender, Mudrock refuses to be directly healed by Rhodes Island’s Operators, relying instead on the regenerating shields of her Talent and outright invincibility from her S3 to soak damage and survive. And the longer she survives, the less likely it is that her enemies will do the same; Mudrock’s mighty hammerswings can crush any opponent into gravel.

The power of a Defender who can deflect just about any attack cannot be overstated. Yes, Mudrock is difficult to heal and her S3’s timing is tricky. Her shields alone would still make her worthwhile, to say nothing of her enormous self-sustain and terrifying damage potential. Mudrock is every bit the unstoppable juggernaut that a former boss should be. (Just don’t take her to stages with poison mist.)

I definitely recommend pulling for Mudrock.

Hellagur is a ferocious one-on-one killing machine. His crazy HP and ATK stats are backed up with powerful DPS Skills, healing every time he attacks, and HP regeneration when he isn’t Blocking to top him off before his next duel. Be careful, though: all this power comes at the cost of not being able to be directly healed by allies.

Hellagur can single-handedly defeat most enemies he comes across, and he doesn’t need the help of a Medic to do it, which makes him incredibly self-sufficient. He does have his limitations, however. Having Block-1 limits how many enemies he can realistically duel in one map, and the fact that he can’t be directly healed makes it difficult for him to fight enemies whose DPS outstrips his healing.

Like other older Operators, Hellagur has also been challenged by the powercreep of newer Operators in Arknights. Mountain and Surtr bring even more dueling power to the table, while Bagpipe and Phantom perform similarly against weaker foes but also boast utility and flexibility that Hellagur cannot match. To give him credit, Hellagur’s combination of self-sustain, high damage, and Physical Dodge can still be leveraged to great effect, especially in Contingency Contracts, where his self-reliance is a massive boon. There are just fewer situations where he’s the best choice for the job.

I don’t recommend pulling for Hellagur because he can be a bit niche outside of Challenge stages, but he can be worth raising if you pull him.

Specter is the Undying Operator, able to laugh in the face of death for several seconds at a time with the boundless power of her S2. Once her S2 is activated, Specter can withstand any amount of damage without falling below 1 HP, cackling madly as she drives her buzzsaw-on-a-stick into the soft, squishy bodies of her enemies. Did we also mention the massive, bloody ATK buff she gets? We might have forgotten amidst the carnage.

The tricky part is, once the duration of her S2 expires, Specter becomes Stunned for several seconds. Poor timing of Specter’s S2 can result in Specter falling unconscious just in time to let several enemies past her. However, there’s a silver lining to the self-Stun as well: if you used Specter’s S2 to absorb a lot of damage, she’s probably at 1 HP, so taking any hit would force her off the field. Becoming Stunned gives her a chance to avoid melee damage so an ally Medic or her self-healing Talent can get her back into fighting shape instead.

You might be asking yourself, “Is Specter still good, considering units like Blaze, Mudrock, and Surtr can also escape death?” The answer is “yes.” Specter’s S2 is manually triggered and can be used multiple times per deployment, which gives her a degree of survival that no other currently existing unit can match. It’s pretty insane. Just like Specter.

I recommend pulling for Specter. She requires careful timing to use well, but the benefits are well worth the effort.

GreyThroat is basically a mini-Exusiai, focusing on spraying multiple attacks into a single target as quickly as possible. Her E2 Talent gives her a chance to crit on attacks, and both of her Skills cause her to fire multiple shots at once, presenting multiple opportunities to crit per attack. Because her Talent is RNG-dependent, she needs some luck to hit her maximum damage potential, but when things go her way, she puts enemies in the ground like nobody’s business.

That unreliability is the main thing holding GreyThroat back from being a stellar 5* Anti-Air Sniper. When her Talent is working with her, she’s quite effective, but when it isn’t, other Snipers can leave her in the dust. (This shouldn’t impact Auto runs, thankfully, but it can be a problem when you’re doing Practice runs.) Her S2 gives her the best chance to successfully roll crits, but her S2 is also an [Attacking Enemy] charge type Skill with a high SP cost, so don’t expect to use it too many times on most maps.

I don’t recommend pulling for or buying GreyThroat unless you desperately need another Anti-Air Sniper (you should have at least 2), but she can be worth raising if you don’t have Exusiai and/or Ash.

Ayerscarpe has a gun and a bunch of swords. An ordinary person would probably use the gun for ranged attacks and the sword for melee attacks. Not Ayerscarpe: he uses the gun to fire the swords and the swords to fire electricity. His fellow Operators are confused.

Regardless of what Ayerscarpe is throwing at his opponents today, you can’t argue that he gets results. Both of Ayerscarpe’s Skills do multi-target Arts damage, and his S1 also Slows the affected targets. His S2 is one of the more unusual Skills in Arknights: in addition to making his attacks Arts damage for the duration and increasing his attack range, it projects an electric field around adjacent allies that damages all opponents that those allies are Blocking. And don’t forget about his Talent, which grants a rare ASPD buff to all nearby allies.

Ayerscarpe can be quite the asset, between his multi-target Arts damage and the ASPD buff he brings to the table. However, this usually isn’t enough to stand out in comparison to other units in his archetype. There are a lot of extremely strong Ranged Guards, and Ayerscarpe’s narrow utility and awkward S2 have trouble standing out from the crowd. The S2 is his real issue: successfully Blocking enemies in high-level content can be very difficult, and its effects aren’t really worth the effort to make it work. In a vacuum, Ayerscarpe can perform admirably, but in practice, there are usually better Operators to bring to the field.

I don’t recommend pulling for Ayerscarpe.