Arknights: Should You Pull? Standard Banner: Ifrit and Magallan

The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:

Featured Operators:

Rarity	Operator
6★	Magallan Ifrit
5★	FEater Pramanix Silence

• Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Ifrit and Pramanix.
• 6★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 6★
• 5★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 5★

Probably not. These Operators are actually all quite strong, but they’re either very niche (i.e., Pramanix) or easily replaced with lower-rarity versions (i.e., Shaw can do FEater’s job just fine most of the time). If your waifu is on this banner, go ahead and pull, as none of the rate-ups are  a waste of resources, but otherwise it’s probably better to save for a more widely-applicable banner.

Of course, even if your waifu (or husbando!) is not on this banner, it can be worthwhile to do Headhunt x1 until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.

Summoner Supporter

+ Brings powerful Slows, Arts damage, or ranged physical AoE to the table

+ Can solo some maps with clever use of her drones

- Summons cost DP and deployment slots

- Skills can be hard to time properly, since they recall all her drones after finishing

AoE Caster (Burninator)

+ Crazy-high AoE Arts DPS with a very unique attack range

+ Debuffs enemy defensive stats so they die even faster

- Usual AoE Caster limitations (high DP cost, slow attack speed)

- Unique attack range can also make it hard to use her effectively

Push Specialist

+ Pushes enemies away, causing instant death if pushed into holes, changing enemy movement, etc.

+ Slows enemies, so it takes them longer to walk back into her range

+ Can Block-2 and attack as many enemies as she’s blocking, like a mini-AoE Guard

+ Can be deployed on ground or ranged grids

- More expensive to level than lower-rarity Push Specialists, who can perform the primary role of Pushing just as well as she can

- Usefulness falls dramatically when there are no pits/ deathtraps on the map

Debuff Supporter

+ Deals Arts damage and targets two enemies at a time after E2 promotion

+ Talent increases the damage taken by nearby enemies when they are low on HP

+ Can lower enemy attack speed (great survival tool) or DEF/ RES (great offensive tool)

- Low stats, so her survivability and her direct DPS are both low

- In some situations, her debuffs are less effective than just fielding another DPS unit

ST Medic

+ Strong ST Medic with decent stats for her role

+ Incredibly versatile S2; her healing drone can be deployed on any empty space and heals all adjacent allies, allowing Silence to heal anywhere, heal an AoE, and increase her own healing output if she deploys it within her default attack range

- Lacks forms of non-healing utility (i.e., Shining’s shields or Warfarin’s attack buff)

Magallan has programmed her army of flying drones so they can satisfy multiple valuable combat roles. Her Skill 1 turns them into incredibly powerful Slowing debuffers, her Skill 2 gives them melee-range Arts damage, and her Skill 3 arms them with physical AoE missiles.

All this versatility makes Magallan an extremely potent Operator. Skill 1 makes her one of the strongest Slowing supporters in the game, and Skills 2 and 3 have terrific damage potential when used well. However, understanding how to deploy her drones well and when to activate her Skills can be harder than it looks, so she’s not a very beginner-friendly Operator.

I don’t recommend pulling for Magallan, but she’s well worth investing in if you pull her.

Ifrit is an AoE Caster whose attacks burn everything in a straight line in front of her. Anything without the good sense to die immediately to her flames will suffer some kind of debuff: her Talent reduces the RES of enemies in her attack range, her S2 adds a burn and DEF-down debuff, and her S3 reduces enemy RES even more.

Ifrit does a great job of killing things on her own, but the debuffs she adds help the rest of your team kill things as well. The combination is positively deadly, but it’s limited by Ifrit’s unusual attack range. On some maps, Ifrit can set up at the end of a long hallway and incinerate enemies all day long. On other maps, it’ll be hard for Ifrit to find even one space to target.

I don’t recommend pulling for Ifrit, but she’s well worth investing in if you pull her.

FEater is a Push Specialist. Her main role is pushing enemies backwards into pits or other lethal deathtraps. However, in addition to pushing enemies, she can also Slow them, which can lead to some fun interactions where FEater shoves enemies away from her, recharges her Skill before they can reach her, and shoves them away again, not even letting them get an attack in between pushes!

Most of the time, Push Specialists are only deployed on maps where there are pits for them to use. FEater is definitely useful beyond just pushing enemies into pits: she can Block-2, she attacks as many enemies as she’s Blocking, she has Physical Dodge from her Talent, and of course she can Slow her targets. However, she’s still best on stages where she can push enemies into pits, and in those situations, her lower-rarity equivalent, Shaw, is equally as effective (and a lot cheaper to raise).

I don’t recommend pulling for FEater, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her.

Pramanix was the only Debuff Supporter in Arknights until the recent release of Shamare, and she’s still the only one available on Global servers at present. Using her blessed saint’s bell, Pramanix lulls enemies into vulnerable positions, reducing their attack speed so they can’t fight as well or reducing their defenses so they take increased damage.

Pramanix’s utility is very unique and can be extraordinarily powerful against the right targets. She also has an enormous attack range, a cheap DP cost, and Arts damage attacks, so she can be a useful source of Arts damage early in a map. On the other hand, her stats are very low, so she really relies on her debuffs to pull her weight, and her debuffs aren’t always more effective than just fielding another damage-dealer.

I don’t recommend pulling for Pramanix, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her.

Silence is a ST Medic, but she cheats the system with her S2, which allows her to deploy a Healing Drone that heals all allies in its area. The Healing Drone completely changes Silence’s healing as compared to other Medics. She can deploy it on any empty space on the field, so she can heal any ally no matter where they are. The Drone heals multiple targets, giving her AoE capability when she needs it most. It also heals separately from Silence; if you drop it within Silence’s attack range, she and the drone can heal the same ally simultaneously, essentially increasing Silence’s healing power.

If you don’t have strong Medics on your team, I recommend pulling for Silence. She is an outstanding ST Medic.

If you already have strong Medics, I don’t recommend pulling for Silence, but she’s worth investing in if you pull her.