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

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

No, but you may want to consider buying from the Gold Certificate store.

The two best Operators on this banner are Nightingale and Shamare—and those are also the two Operators available in the Gold Cert shop. Nightingale is a 6★ AoE Medic who hard-counters just about any enemy that does Arts damage, and Shamare is a 5★ Hexer Supporter with a portable ATK+DEF debuff.

While neither Operator will singlehandedly win maps for you, both are well worth buying if you happen to have the Gold Certs on hand. However, neither is worth investing pulls into, considering that the other three units on the banner are comparatively underwhelming. (Apologies to Fartooth and her fans!)

As with all banners, a 5★ or higher Operator is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls. Should you pull for that? No. In contrast to the widely-useful Shamare, 5★s Leizi and Sesa are outclassed by other options.

Deadeye/ Long-Range Sniper

+ Usual archetype strengths: Huge attack range, high base ATK

+ Low SP costs and good Skill uptime

+ E1 Talent increases her ATK when she hasn’t taken damage recently, which is usually an easy condition to meet (though not on poison mist stages)

+ E2 Talent reduces her aggro while she has a Skill active, helping to maintain E1 Talent for Skill durations

+ S2 lets her attack enemies anywhere on the field (but if they’re outside of her range, they have to be Blocked for her to target them) and dramatically increases her ASPD

+ S3 turns her attack range into an infinite straight line and increases her ATK; damage will also be increased if she hits an enemy outside of her base attack range

= Infinite range can be helpful against some enemies (i.e., ones that explode on death) but is often less useful than other Sniper gimmicks

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Very slow ASPD, does not prioritize aerial enemies

- Because of her archetype, she prioritizes low-DEF enemies; she may “waste” her infinite range by targeting undesirable low-DEF enemies over more important targets (especially if low-DEF enemies walk into her normal attack range during S2)

- S2 loses a lot of value against enemies that cannot be Blocked or do too much damage to be Blocked for long

- S2 does not increase her ATK or damage, just her ASPD, so its output suffers against high-DEF targets

- She has to be placed VERY far back to get the bonus damage from S3, considering how long her base attack range already is; this is not always possible on some maps

AoE/ Multi-target Medic

+ Serviceable AoE healer

+ Hard-counters enemy Arts damage

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

- Loses value compared to her alternatives on maps where no enemy Arts damage is present

Chain Caster

+ Has “chain lightning” attacks that can jump up to 4 tiles if enemies are arranged correctly

+ Talent (bonus ATK when hitting unblocked enemies) and the Slow from her Trait means she works well with no-Block strategies

= Better than a ST Caster when enemies are close together, and better than an AoE Caster when enemies are spread out, but worse when the opposite is true

- Usual archetype weaknesses: High DP cost; low base ATK and slow ASPD greatly reduces her potential DPS

- S2 suffers from poor cycle and uptime

- “Chain” range on her attacks is 1.7 grids, so fully utilizing the bounces can be difficult

Debuffer/ Hexer Supporter

+ Usual archetype strengths: wide attack range, high base RES, cheap DP cost

+ Talent inflicts Fragile, increasing the damage taken by nearby enemies when they are low on HP

+ S1 makes her Fragile debuff even stronger, helping to burn through meaty targets

+ S2 deploys a cursed doll that reduces ATK and DEF of enemies within its range; a great way to reduce enemy DPS and make bosses/ elites less of a threat

- Usual archetype weaknesses: her direct DPS is so low that she is sometimes less effective than fielding another DPS unit (especially in the early game)

- Her S2 does not increase the damage dealt by Arts DPS Operators, since her doll only lowers DEF, not RES

AoE Sniper

+ Usual archetype strengths: huge attack range, attacks deal splash damage

+ Increases the Physical damage dealt to all blocked enemies on the field from all Operators (Talent)

+ Can debuff enemy ASPD (S2), which greatly reduces the DPS of enemies who already attack slowly (i.e., Colossi)

- Usual archetype weaknesses: high DP cost, slow ASPD, reduced effectiveness against single targets or high-DEF targets, needs to be promoted to E2 for maximum attack range

- Notably lower DPS than fellow 5★ AoE Sniper Meteorite; inferior version of 6★ W, whom many Doctors pulled for heavily (because she is a limited Operator)

- Particularly fast enemies can run right past his slow-to-detonate S2 shots and avoid the damage/ debuff

Fartooth intended to start her own order of Infected Knights in Kazimierz, but she ended up joining Rhodes Island’s collection of Infected former-Knights instead. A talented archer with a flashy fighting style, Fartooth knows what her audience likes to see: infinite-ranged arrows streaking across the field like a blazing comet to one-shot her unsuspecting targets!

Being a good performer, Fartooth is a very showy Operator who looks terrific in showcase videos. In contrast, her practical usage can be a bit disappointing. Her S2 looks nigh-broken at first glance—infinite range! A huge ASPD increase! In practice, however, it’s clunky and hard to use. The “infinite range” only triggers if the enemy is being Blocked, the Skill lacks an ATK buff to break through high enemy defenses, and if an enemy walks into Fartooth’s actual attack range she will waste the Skill duration attacking them instead.

Okay, what about her S3? That sounds good—like Ifrit but with infinite range! And yes, it is pretty good! But like Ifrit, it’s extremely map-dependent. To get the full damage from the Skill, Fartooth has to be placed very far away from the action, yet still be on a straight line with her intended target. And unlike Ifrit, Fartooth’s S3 shots are not AoE. If a Slug walks in front of the boss, Fartooth will shoot the Slug instead of the boss, wasting Skill duration and possibly giving the boss enough time to move out of her line of fire. When S3 works, it’s poetry in motion. But on a lot of maps, S3’s effectiveness is likely to be depressingly reduced.

I don’t recommend pulling for Fartooth. That being said, she might be worth leveling if you pull her, since she is excellent on any occasion where you have a long-distance straightaway pointing at an annoying enemy’s position.

Nightingale is the ultimate counter to enemies with Arts damage. Used well, her Talents and Skills can make allies within her range virtually immune to Arts damage, and she brings AoE healing on top of that. Her Fleeting Phantom Talent is particularly useful, giving her two birdcages (it’s symbolic!) that she can deploy as decoys to soak up ranged damage.

When enemy Casters or similar units hit the field, Nightingale is the MVP for the map. However, on any stage where enemy Arts damage is nonexistent (or just easily survivable without Nightingale’s help), she loses her luster. She has no utility other than mitigating Arts damage; when that utility isn’t bringing value, Nightingale has very little to offer.

I don’t recommend pulling for Nightingale, but she’s very worth investing in if you pull or buy her. Enemies with Arts damage are often a tremendous pain when they show up, so Nightingale is a good ace to have up your sleeve.

Leizi is a Chain Caster, an archetype whose attacks bounce across the field from enemy to enemy, inflicting damage and a Slowing effect. Between her archetype’s innate Slow and her Talent’s bonus damage to unlocked enemies, Leizi is a natural fit for a no-Block strategy, and her “chain lightning” attacks give her unique reach compared to other Caster archetypes.

Or at least, her range used to be unique. At this time of writing, the Chain Caster archetype has seen two new members and several buffs since Leizi was first released, and Leizi lags behind her competitors. 4★ Pudding is as good as (sometimes better than) Leizi for cheaper investment and DP costs, and 6★ Passenger has much higher Skill damage and a better module to reward investing in him. Chain Casters are already in an odd spot where they perform worse than Core Casters when attacking one target and worse than Splash Casters when attacking multiple targets. A Chain Caster really needs something special to help them stand out, and for now, Leizi lacks that extra oomph.

I don’t recommend pulling for Leizi.

Shamare may or may not owe her unsettling voodoo powers to her doll, Morte, but she unquestionably owes her status as a potent Supporter Operator to his participation in her S2. Shamare’s S2 allows her to place Morte on the field to decrease the ATK and DEF of all enemies around him—a deceptively simple effect, but one with devastating results.

Debuffing ATK and DEF together gives Shamare a hybrid role: she makes enemies squishier by lowering their DEF, yes, but lowering enemy ATK also makes your frontliners much more survivable. Furthermore, because Shamare’s S2 is tied to the location of her doll rather than her own placement, Shamare is very versatile with her positioning. She can sit far away from the action and still use Morte to debuff enemies at the frontlines.

These are very appealing qualities, but Shamare’s life is too cursed not to have a few stumbling blocks. Firstly, while Shamare can deploy Morte at a great distance, her Talent’s Fragile debuff is still tied to her location, so placing her too far away from the action limits her effectiveness. Secondly, Shamare has no way of reducing enemy RES. If your strategy revolves around Physical damage, then Shamare is very potent, but if you’re focusing on Arts damage, Shamare’s usefulness noticeably drops. Finally, Shamare has virtually no offensive or defensive presence on her own. She can create misfortune for her enemies, but she needs strong allies to take advantage of the opening she provides; otherwise, her efforts will be wasted.

I don’t recommend pulling for Shamare, but she’s very worth investing in if you pull or buy her. She doesn’t stand out much in the early game, but she’s perfect for making bosses die more quickly.

Sesa is one of those units who looks fine in a vacuum. He’s a textbook example of his archetype: he benefits from a large attack range and high base ATK, but he suffers from high DP cost and slow ASPD. He’s great for wiping out hordes of weak enemies that might otherwise overrun your defenses, and he even has some tasty utility with his S2, which adds an ASPD debuff to his attacks for the duration. Debuffing ASPD can dramatically reduce enemy damage output, especially if stacked with ATK debuffs like Shamare’s Cursed Doll.

The problem is that Sesa is part of a relatively weak archetype that still manages to have two Operators who are much stronger than he is. Fellow 5★ Meteorite has higher DPS thanks to her crit chance Talent, and her S1 expands the radius of her splash damage, which makes her better at the whole “AoE” thing. Meanwhile, 6★ AoE Sniper W is hugely popular and also a limited unit, meaning lots of Doctors pulled on her when given the chance. As a 6★, she is of course stronger than Sesa, which means any Doctor who successfully pulled W probably doesn’t have much reason to pull for Sesa now.

If AoE Snipers as an archetype were more widely used, there would be a compelling argument for raising the debuffing Sesa in addition to Meteorite and/or W. However, since AoE Snipers are a fairly niche group in the first place, it’s hard to justify raising Sesa if you already have one of his superiors.

I don’t recommend pulling for Sesa.