Arknights: Should You Pull? 3rd Standard Pool Banner Shining & Saria

The Third Standard Pool Banner features 6-Star Operators Shining & Saria on rate-up. This means there is a 2% chance of pulling a 6-Star Operator and, if a 6-Star is pulled, there is a 25% chance it will be Shining, 25% Saria and 50% chance of being a different 6-star Operator.

- Single Target Healer.
- Specializes in buffing Defense.
- High DP Cost.
- Can either Sustained or Burst Heal.
- Defense buffing can be seen as a niche play as it is not always a requirement, while Arts also completely ignore defense shields

- Healer Tank.
- Blocks 2, increased to 3 upon first promotion.
- Healing Allies restores their SP.
- Saria’s First Aid which can hold 3 charges once invested, can use multiple charges at once, allowing her to burst heal quickly.

- Support Unit with Arts Damage.
- Can Debuff enemies with Slow.
- Has a special skill that enhances her range and can slow multiple targets at once.
- Has incredibly low defense, and even gets a def down debuff as a drawback from using her talents.
- Cheap Operator to deploy.

- AoE Guard.
- Blocks 2 targets, 3 when promoted to Elite 2.
- Upon skill activation can defy death for the entire duration of the buff.
- Has a high DP Cost.
- Drawback from immortality is that she gets stunned at the end of the buff.

- Short Redeploy Timer.
- Low DP Cost.
- Has physical dodge chance.
- Can do AoE Stun + Damage on Deploy.
- Squishy, low health, easily killable.
- Repeated usage of Quick-Deploy can lead to a high DP cost.

The following Operators this time around have very unique traits. Istina is an amazing slow debuffer support unit, who can slow multiple opponents. She will make a decent recruit if you need a slow debuffer. Specter has the ability to defy death and turn an encounter around, as a well timed skill activation can be a game changer. Projekt Red was one of the four free Operators you could receive launch of the game, so if you didn’t select her, this can be your moment to get her. Her ability to quickly redeploy can help you take out or interrupt priority targets. Saria’s SP restoring is extremely powerful for a tank who can heal allies. This is a banner you should try to pull on as the majority of the Operators have decent usages your squad could take advantage of.

She is often compared to Warfarin as a healer with supportive secondary effects. However, Shining has an amazing Single Target heal and her secondary effects buffs Defense. While it is useful in a majority of situations, it isn't as universal as the Warfarin ally SP generation. Shining is especially good with Cuora the “Turtle Pokémon” as she benefits a great deal with additional defense.

Shining is a Niche Support Operator as Physical Defense isn’t always a requirement, while her Skill 3 can be very strong heal..Often one would say the SP generation of Warfarin's SP recharge is a better support healing and thus shouldn’t go for Shining.

With the recent banner of Skadi, it is safe to assume Saria’s best friend is Whale-Chan Skadi. The two of them have a synergy that covers each other's weaknesses. Saria can block 3 targets, and while healing also restore the allies SP. Meanwhile Skadi can only block one, and her S3 has a huge SP cost. So in a scenario where Skadi is deployed in front of Saria. Saria can block 3 Targets on top of Skadi. This will allow Skadi to have 4 targets, give her access to heal and speed up her Skill 3 SP recharge.

Saria is the best healer tank in the game, and a great deal of healing skills for various situations.. The SP generation is so useful that you shouldn’t miss out on Saria,

You can find a lot of slow debuffers in Arknight, the most well known ones being Angelina and Orchid. What makes Istina so special in comparison is her huge range, while hitting several units.

With how Istina has an edge over other slow debuffers with her Skill AoE Potential, she is a support unit that you should try to get your hands on, as she will be an asset that will help you out on certain stages. Long range AoE slow can become very useful.

Specter is very unique on her own, as in she gets deployed deals Aoe damage, and leaves a trail of blood in her tracks while refusing to die momentarily. Her biggest issue relies on her high DP Cost, so in terms of synergy, the most important aspect would be to ensure that you have your vanguards out and generated DP as she will be hard to get out on the field early stages.

Specter if played right by the doctor can be a very game changing operator, if you have what it takes to strategize and fully grasp her power, make sure to get her on your team. To give you an idea of her usefulness for the 2nd part of the Grani event, on the very last map, GT-6 Challenge mode, she can survive the boss unit for a very long time.

With Projekt Red's Fast Redeploy mechanic, her DP cost can be very high in the end. So havingDP-Recovery vanguards can help Projekt Red to keep on deploying on the field.

Projekt Red can aoe stun, and deal serious damage, and do it again with her fast re-deployment. In the hands of a good Doctor, she can be all over the map and lead your squad to victory.