Arknights: In-depth Review - Quercus

Quercus is the future 5★ Abjurer Supporter featured in the Spark Blossom banner, which will run alongside the A Light Spark in Darkness event. As an Abjurer, things are already looking quite bleak for Quercus, as the two Operators that share this class (Nine-Colored Deer and Tsukinogi) are considered by many to be some of the worst Operators in the game. This article will explore how Quercus attempts to break free of the usual shortcomings of her class, and whether or not she performs her role well enough to be the first worthwhile Abjurer.

The first step Quercus takes towards distancing herself from her class is focusing significantly less on the Shelter status effect. While she still has the effect in her only Talent, neither of her skills interact with it in any way (neither for buffing the effect nor for loosening the activation requirements). 

While this may look like too heavy a departure from the original design idea of the Abjurers as defensive buffers, the reality is that Shelter is an incredibly weak effect barely ever (if ever at all) worth using over any other protective measures. Thanks to diverging from this, Quercus can focus more on developing a specific, more unique niche that may just be good enough to be worth looking into.

Before we delve into her kit, however, remember that the Abjurer class got modified shortly before the release of Nine-Colored Deer, switching their behavior to healing whenever their skills are active. This will become important once we start looking at Quercus’ Skills, so keep it in mind!

Quercus’ stats are extremely similar to those of her co-archetypal Operators, to the point where the only noteworthy difference is a slight increase in Defense, which works well enough for her expected role in the battlefield.

Comparing her to any Caster reveals that she definitely was not designed to be a DPS unit, as her Attack value is incredibly low even when compared to Operators multiple levels of rarity below herself. Instead (and somewhat expectedly given the current function of her class) it more closely resembles those of 4★ Medic Operators, hinting at a similar function that will become clear once we look further into her kit.

Long story short, don’t try to use Quercus as a strange Caster substitute. You’re much better off using Steward.

Any Operator within Quercus’ attack range with more than 70% of their Max HP will receive a 14% (+2% at P5) Shelter effect. This effect is always active so long as the conditions are met.

Shelter applies an Arts and Physical damage reduction equal to its value, making it potentially very powerful at high enough numbers, but pretty worthless with such low values and conditional effects.

Even amongst other Abjurers, Quercus has by far the weakest Shelter effect, and with no way to increase either its effectiveness or its uptime it is simply not worth drafting Quercus to take advantage of it..

When activated, Quercus’ Attack will permanently increase by 40% until the Skill is manually deactivated. It takes 40 SP to charge fully and has infinite duration.

This Skill allows Quercus to switch back and forth from a really poor Caster to an actually pretty decent Medic. Thanks to her significantly lower Attack Interval than regular Medic Operators, Quercus can provide enough healing (both average and “burst”) to rival 4★ Operators of the previously mentioned class, with a great range to boot.

Still, this Skill only turns Quercus into a decent, generic Medic, which most players won’t have any use for over an actual 5★ Medic. While I wouldn’t recommend using this Skill in those situations, it might be worth looking into for newer rosters that happen to have her, as the gap between her HPS and other 4★ Medics’ is more notable at lower promotion levels.

When activated, Quercus’ Attack Speed increases by 60 for 17 seconds, reducing her Attack Interval to 1 second under normal circumstances. Additionally, Quercus will grant 1 SP to any allied Operator she heals during this Skill.

Have you ever played Integrated Strategies and thought “man, wouldn’t it be amazing if Touch was a real Operator.”? Quercus’ second Skill is exactly that, but in a way that won’t immediately break the game. Her SP support is locked behind a 40% uptime Skill (which, all things considered, is not horrendous) and only at 1SP per heal, but with a much shorter Attack Interval.

Quercus’ second Skill works quite well as an additional SP support that can very easily fit into any team, and even sub for a Medic as long as there isn’t heavy pressure on the healing aspect thanks to her quick cycling. She pairs especially well with Operators that are able to damage themselves, particularly while offskill. Let’s explore some of the most notable options, including some from the CN server:

Quercus provides 17 SP over 17 seconds for Aak, shortening his third Skill to 18 seconds of downtime in total. Aak S3 has 20 seconds of uptime, while Quercus has 25 of downtime, resulting in an offset of just 4 seconds each cycle, which means they pair quite well.

Ifrit receives 40% of her Max HP as damage every time she uses her third Skill. Sadly, due to her low HP, Quercus can only heal her twice before Ifrit goes back to full HP, granting a measly 2 SP and reducing her downtime to 26 seconds (not taking Ifrit’s Talent into account).

Warfarin’s second Skill causes herself and her target to lose 3% of their max HP every second for 15 seconds. Since this HP loss is gradual, Quercus can theoretically grant 15 additional SP to either Warfarin or her target, though in practice this is less useful than it sounds. Warfarin targets are likely to be on SP lockout due to their Skills being activated for a heavy damage boost, so they cannot be granted additional SP. Warfarin, on the other hand, needs to come off her short SP lockout before she can be granted SP, and she will constantly try to heal herself, making it difficult for Quercus to sneak any actual heals in.

Fiammetta constantly loses HP due to her Talent, making her a prime target for Quercus. While her third Skill does not benefit from this due to its infinite duration, her second one definitely does. If used correctly, Quercus is able to quickly grant Fiammetta two additional uses of her second Skill, while keeping her topped up for her Talent’s Vigor effect.

Gavial the Invincible’s third Skill makes her lose HP gradually over 20 seconds AFTER the skill is finished, letting Quercus get all 17 SP in if she has taken enough damage. Gavial the Invincible S3 has 25 seconds of uptime, and Quercus has another 25, resulting in a -1 offset for Quercus, making this combo theoretically infinite. This combination of skills shorten's Gavial the Invincible's third Skill cooldown by a little under 50%.

So, should I pull for Quercus? Does she revolutionize the Abjurer archetype into an actually worthwhile one? Is this SP boosting a new meta? The answer is PROBABLY NOT. Quercus has really interesting and potentially powerful SP boosting capabilities, but she has not had the chance to shine yet. Her support capabilities are quite limited and conditionals, and even if boosting SP generation can be quite powerful, the amount of situations that need to align for Quercus to reach her full potential means it might be a long while until we can see her shine as the powerhouse she could be.