Arknights: Should You Pull? Solitude Universal: Chongyue

:Note:

• New Operators [Lin], [Firewhistle] will permanently join the [Standard Headhunting] pool after the banner ends
• New Operator [Chongyue] is a limited Operator, and won’t join any [Standard Headhunting].

Maybe. (No, that is not a typo.)

Is this a good banner? Yes, it is. Are Chongyue and Lin good units? Yes, they are. Are they worth spending your resources on when there is a limited collaboration banner coming up next? That’s the question you have to ask yourself.

Most Doctors should be able to get by just fine without Chongyue or Lin in their roster. Chongyue is similar in many ways to other “lane holder” units like Mountain or Thorns, and he needs a limited unit (Skadi the Corrupting Heart) to reach his full potential. Lin is a Phalanx Caster, making her situational by design, and while she can do some impressive things with her barrier mechanics, she is also very weak without her Module upgrades, which won’t arrive in Global for some time yet.

The 5★ on this banner, Firewhistle, is decent enough and may be worth raising, but she’s not worth pulling for on her own.

You should not pull on this banner just because Chongyue is limited. Be aware of what these Operators do and whether you really want them before you make your final decision.

Brawler Guard

+ Usual archetype strengths: Low DP cost, fast ASPD

+ Skills and Talents give damage buffs rather than ATK buffs, so he scales amazingly well with external ATK buffers

+ Can debuff enemies so they take more damage from him (E1 Talent)

+ Gains SP when his Skills defeat an enemy (E2 Talent)

+ S2 hits multiple enemies and Levitates them briefly before hitting them again

+ S3 is a regular splash damage attack the first few times it is used on any map; afterwards, it increases Chongyue’s attack range and number of hits, and the splash damage starts to trigger automatically

= Has Block-1

- Usual archetype weaknesses—has trouble damaging high-DEF enemies and can be too squishy to duel enemies with really high DPS

- Lacks survivability or self-sustain, reducing his ability to hold a lane

- S3 has [When Attacking] SP charge and needs to activate multiple times before it reaches its full power

Modal/ Phalanx Caster

+ Usual archetype strengths: Has DEF +200% and RES +20 while her Skills are NOT active, putting her on par with multiple Defenders

+ Attacks all enemies within her attack range while her Skills are active (“true” AoE)

+ E1 Talent is a barrier that negates attacks that do damage below a certain threshold; an attack that does damage above that threshold is absorbed but shatters the barrier, causing Lin to damage and Stun all enemies within range

+ E2 Talent has a chance to give Lin SP every time she gets hit

+ S3 increases Lin’s ATK, Lin’s attack range, and the damage threshold for shattering Lin’s barrier (so it becomes stronger); in addition, the barrier will shatter and immediately regenerate each time Lin kills an enemy for the duration

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Activating her Skills (except Charged S1) causes her to lose her massive survivability, forcing the player to balance “when to use her Skills” versus “when to use her as a ranged damage soak”

- She REQUIRES her Module to be good

- Her barrier’s threshold for shattering is not that high while S3 is not active, so it can shatter at an inopportune time if you’re not careful

- S3 has low uptime

Fortress Defender

+ Usual archetype strengths: A ground-deployed unit with long-range AoE Physical attacks; gains Block-3 at E1

+ S1 and S2 both “Ignite” enemies, dealing Arts damage over time (good for killing enemies that die in a certain number of hits rather than to a certain amount of damage, such as Waregeists)

- Usual archetype weaknesses: Stops performing ranged AoE attacks while Blocking enemies (she just punches her Blocked target like a Normal Defender instead)

- S2 has a long skill cycle

Chongyue is the first of the dragon siblings we’ve seen who is a brother rather than a sister. He’s also the first one we’ve seen who punches things with his fists rather than using control over metal, magical paintings, or alcoholic dragons as a weapon. Does that make him weaker than his sisters? Why don’t you stand in front of his ranged, double-hitting, AoE punches and find out?

Lin Yuhsia, daughter of the Rat King, has reunited with her childhood friends Ch’en and Swire at last. Tensions are high between these three, due to their very different paths in life. However, Lin is trying to make amends with her friends by helping them out through a mutual acquaintance: Rhodes Island. To this end, she will be deploying her dangerously breakable (in the best way) Crystal Barriers both offensively and defensively in the pursuit of peace, friendship, and widespread glass-based destruction.

Firewhistle’s cheerful, easygoing demeanor belies her role as the president of a private security company in Rim Billiton. Her gregarious nature makes her excellent at customer service, while her skill with large firearms makes her excellent at setting enemies on fire for prolonged damage over time.