Arknights: New Operator Spotlight - Archetto

Archetto is the newest 6★ Anti-Air Sniper Operator to be released on the global Arknights server. Considering that the existing 6* Anti-Air Sniper, Exusiai, is renowned as one of the primary DPS units in the game, players are surely wondering if Archetto is able to compete. Let’s take a look and see if Archetto is worth it, shall we?

As stated above, Archetto is not the first 6★ Anti-Air Sniper. As a member of this archetype, she has a low DP cost and fast ASPD, which is balanced by low ATK. For specifics on her stats, Talents, Skills, and more, check out her Operator page.

Exusiai and Archetto are both designed to deal multiple hits in a short amount of time. However, Archetto has a greater emphasis on dealing those hits to multiple targets, unlike Exusiai, who focuses on one enemy at a time. Archetto is something of a hybrid Sniper, combining elements from many lower-rarity Snipers into one package: Blue Poison’s multiple targets, Platinum’s increased range, April’s on-deployment safety, and more.

Archetto’s biggest strength is probably her Landen Tactics Talent, which generates SP over time for all allied Snipers equipped with an [Attacking Enemy] Skill as long as Archetto is deployed. All of Archetto’s Skills have the [Attacking Enemy] SP charge type, so she always benefits from this Talent, but it can be a boon to other Snipers like Blue Poison and GreyThroat as well.

• Archetto is best used to keep crowds of low-DEF enemies in check. Her multi-hitting attacks slice through lightly-armored targets like butter, and her AoE Skills combined with her quick rate of attack allow her to fill the AoE Sniper role with great ease.
• The Landen Tactics Talent means that Archetto pairs well with other Snipers who have Skills with the [Attacking Enemy] SP charge type. This includes:
  • 3* Snipers: Kroos (S1)
  • 4* Snipers: Jessica (S1) Meteor (S1 and S2) May (S1)
  • 5* Snipers: Blue Poison (S1) Meteorite (S1) GreyThroat (S2) April (S1)
  • 6* Snipers: Exusiai (S1) Schwarz (S1) Rosmontis (S1)
• The Iron Bowstring Talent protects Archetto from one attack after she is deployed. This can sometimes allow her to deploy in a risky position and kill a key target without being immediately blown up (i.e., on maps with pre-deployed enemy Casters).
• All of Archetto’s Skills target multiple enemies, which is a large part of the reason she’s so good against crowds.

• Her S3, Thundering Arrows, increases Archetto’s attack range by 1 square (like Platinum’s S2) for the duration. This can allow Archetto to attack enemies that other Snipers might not be able to reach. It can also allow Doctors to deploy Archetto in a distant spot that other Snipers (except Platinum, obviously) might not be able to utilize as well.

• With her low base ATK and the low ATK multipliers on her Skills, Archetto struggles with enemies that have even a moderate amount of DEF. It takes a lot of buffs and/or debuffs for Archetto to even scratch bosses or elite units.
• Even with Landen Tactics, Archetto needs to be attacking enemies to charge her Skills in any reasonable amount of time.
• Landen Tactics can benefit many Snipers that aren’t Archetto, but for a lot of them, the Skill it works on is not the ideal Skill for that Sniper (i.e., all of the 6* Snipers only benefit with their S1). This drags down the usefulness of the Talent.
• Iron Bowstring cannot be renewed once the shield is broken unless you retreat and redeploy Archetto. Archetto does have a fairly cheap DP cost, but she does not have any way of reducing her long redeployment time, so Iron Bowstring usually doesn’t contribute much to a battle.
• Because Archetto has such an emphasis on hitting multiple targets, she is not the most efficient unit for taking down single targets. Since Arknights rarely uses large swarms in its map design, Archetto’s primary niche is rarely necessary at present.

Gun versus bow! Archetto’s obvious competition for the role of Anti-Air Sniper is the Day 1 leader of the pack: the kooky angel Exusiai. How does Archetto compare? Will she do more damage? Does she shoot faster?? Can she eat more apple pie???

• Stats: Exusiai has slightly higher ATK and Archetto has slightly higher HP and DEF. Since ATK is much more relevant to a Sniper, Exusiai wins this one.
• DPS: Unfortunately, this is the most important category for these two, and Archetto can’t hold a candle to Exusiai. Exusiai has better ASPD from her Talent, she gets bonus ATK from her E2 Talent, and she deals more hits faster with her Skills. All of this also means she benefits more from an ATK buff (i.e., Sora or Warfarin) than Archetto does, further increasing the gap between them. Archetto’s one advantage is that her Skills are easier to control, since Exusiai’s S3 activates automatically, while Archetto’s S2 and S3 are manual. This definitely doesn’t make up for it, though. Exusiai all the way here.
• Survivability: Archetto has better defensive stats and the Iron Bowstring Talent, so she is more survivable than Exusiai. She can also stand farther back if you’re using Thundering Arrows well, which can also give her some safety. Of course, Exusiai gets bonus HP from her E2 Talent and is more likely to kill something before it reaches her than Archetto is. Regardless, though, this at least is an area that Archetto clearly wins.
• Utility: Archetto technically has the better utility, considering that she buffs all Snipers on the field with Landen Tactics while Exusiai only buffs one random ally (and herself). However, because Landen Tactics doesn’t work on all Snipers, it can end up wasted on anyone but Archetto, whereas Exusiai’s Talent is guaranteed to be at least a little bit helpful. We’ll still give this win to Archetto, but it’s a much closer win than you’d expect.

Short answer: No. Exusiai is much better than Archetto.

The most important thing for both Exusiai and Archetto is dealing damage, and Archetto has lower DPS than Exusiai. If Archetto had a huge advantage in team utility, crowd control, or survivability to offset that major loss, then it might work out for her, but Landen Tactics and Iron Bowstring are both too finicky to be competitive. If there are maps in the future where swarms become a major concern, Archetto might be able to pull ahead there. But for now the major challenge in Arknights comes from bosses, and Archetto is not built for that.

Archetto is sadly undertuned for a 6* Operator, especially one that has to compete with a juggernaut like Exusiai. She’s fun to use—there’s something mesmerizing about watching those gleaming trains of arrows bouncing around the map—but in terms of efficiency, she’s not a great choice.

Of course, everyone’s entitled to have their waifu Operator that they simply must pull for. If Archetto is that character for you, then we at GamePress are praying that your paths cross one day!