Arknights: In-depth Review - Lee

Lee is the future 6★ Merchant Specialist featured in the Unstrained Liquor, Pellucid Heart banner, which will run alongside the Invitation to Wine event. Lee is the third Operator of his archetype, and brings with himself a very gimmicky set that doesn’t resemble either of the other Operators of his branch in almost any way, other than the general archetypal traits. Is he closer to the powerhouse that is Jaye, or the more niche Mr. Nothing? Let’s find out!

As a Merchant, Lee’s biggest weakness is implicit in his archetype: he will constantly drain DP as long as he is on the battlefield, completely neutering the natural DP generation and forcing players to rely on Vanguards. It’s not all bad news, though, as their Redeployment Timer is massively shortened to 30 seconds, allowing for redeploy strategies that paliate their DP drain by not having them on the field unless they are absolutely necessary.

This archetypal DP drain is generally not as much of a downside as it may seem: Merchants are cheap to deploy, charge their skills rather quickly and are designed with an Executor-like gameplay in mind; but it is certainly impactful in specific contexts. Powerful as they might be, Merchants struggle on any scenario that impacts the natural DP regeneration, such as Contingency Contract, certain Integrated Strategies stages and even Annihilation stages, necessitating a regiment of Vanguards to supply with enough DP to keep them on the field that you might not be able to provide.

Regardless, Lee has a powerful skillset that has allowed him to see some use in harder content through gimmicky but unique effects that no other Operator shares, so let’s take a look at his stats!

Lee has significantly higher stats than all other Merchants and Executors in the game, giving him a solid offensive presence that mixes quite well with his kit. The defensive stats allow him to stay on the battlefield for longer, which doesn’t benefit a redeploy-style of combat much, but pairs well with some of his Skills and Talents, which we will explore now.

At E2, whenever Lee is blocking an enemy he gains 14 (+1 at Potential 5) Attack Speed, and the enemy’s Attack Speed is reduced by 14 (+1). If that enemy is the only one within the 8 surrounding tiles, both the buff and the debuff are doubled.

This skill somewhat boosts Lee’s usability as an Executor, allowing him to more effectively duel enemies. It is definitely designed to be paired with his third Skill, though, as that would allow him to more consistently get the conditional buffs. We will explain this further on that Skill’s review.

At E2, if possible, Lee will drain 5 additional DP once to block the next instance of Stun or Freeze and return 3 seconds of Stun to the attacker. After this effect is activated, he can drain 5 DP to protect himself again.

Very gimmicky Talent, but also incredibly unique as it is the only one that can flat-out ignore Stun effects and even counter it to cripple enemies. So far we haven’t seen any incredible use for this effect (other than effortlessly stalling the Lingering Echoes boss with some DP support), but it definitely holds potential.

This Talent will activate on Stun and Freeze sources that don’t directly come from enemies (such as Neural damage), but will not trigger the second part that returns the Stun effect to the attacker as the effect application was not direct.

When activated, this skill grants Lee a 60% Attack boost and 40% Arts Evasion. As this skill has infinite duration and a very low SP cost of 7, these boosts are applied almost immediately upon deployment and last until Lee is retreated.

This Skill is somewhat similar to Jaye’s Shell Splitter, granting the exact same Attack boost and a varying special effect that changes their niche. In regards to damage, though, Lee is definitely the better option here. Thanks to his naturally higher Attack stat and Talents, Lee has significantly better DPS unless Jaye is triggering his Talent as well. 

The Arts dodge is quite good to be unconditional, but it really struggles to find a niche that other Operators cannot fill or cover with different roles. As his HP is not that great and his Resistance is null, any attack that may possibly go through is still going to require healing support through other means, and Lee still remains vulnerable to Physical attacks. 

Much like with Jaye, I simply would not recommend using this Skill as other Operators can perform better and Lee’s other abilities are much more useful.

When equipped, Lee’s Attack Speed is passively increased by 30. When activated, Lee marks an enemy (following standard targeting priorities) and increases their Taunt level. 5 seconds after this mark is applied it explodes, dealing 300% Arts damage to all enemies in a small area. All hits on this marked enemy during this 5 second period further increase the final explosion damage by 20% of Lee’s Attack, up to 600% extra damage. If this limit is reached before the timer is up, the mark will explode prematurely.

This Skill looks great on paper thanks to its very low SP cost of 7 (which starts charging again as soon as the mark is set) and potentially very high burst damage, but it’s way too complicated for its own good. Charging all additional hits on the mark is pretty difficult without any really fast attacking Operator, such as Exusiai or Ash, and enemies that will not die from barrages of this caliber will probably be much better taken care of by regular Casters. Still, the uniqueness of enemy taunt increase (only shared by Toddifons) is quite unique, and might be worth keeping in mind as a tech option.

When activated, Lee’s Attack Range permanently increases to the surrounding 8 tiles, and his Attack and Defense are increased by 50%. All enemies within range except Lee’s current target are constantly pushed away with small force, his Taunt level is increased and receives 70% Arts and Physical evasion for attacks coming from outside his range.

This Skill potentially turns Lee into a bottleneck that constantly denies the enemies’ advance and can even interrupt lighter ones through constant pushes, a very unique effect that no other Operators really have. The small Force, however, is quite limiting, forcing Lee to still take care of heavier and more dangerous enemies head on. The stat boosts of this Skill are not amazing, but the push effect can help Lee keep his first Talent’s effect enabled constantly, increasing his DPS to respectable levels.

Perhaps the most interesting part is the self Taunt level increase, which paired with the massive boost in Dodge lets Lee support his teammates by drawing attacks away and soaking them like a champ. Still, with no self-sustain he is bound to need some healing support if you plan to keep him on the battlefield for long.

This skill is most useful when Lee can constantly deal with a stream of weaker enemies, as he has no limits on the amount of enemies he can push at once. This makes him quite powerful when dealing with Wraiths or Ergates, which he will be able to take care of very easily.

So, should I pull for Lee? Is he as powerful as Jaye? Will I benefit from bringing him everywhere despite his DP draining trait? The answer is PROBABLY NOT. Lee is extremely interesting and has a very unique and gimmicky set full of potential, but struggles to see any usage in content that would benefit from these traits due to his archetype, which almost bars him entry to Contingency Contract. Still, he can be quite powerful and useful for general content, and you might get a kick out of his gimmicky playstyle if you get spooked while pulling for his banner partner, Ling.