Standard Banner: Surtr & Ifrit
The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:
Featured Operators:
| Rarity | Operator |
| 6★ |  Surtr - Arts Guard
 Ifrit - Ifrit the Burninator
|
| 5★ |  Reed - DP-On-Kill Vanguard
 Meteorite - AoE Sniper
 Skyfire - AoE Caster
|
- Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Ifrit and Meteorite
- 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★
Should You Pull?
If you don’t already have Surtr, then YES. If you do have Surtr, probably not.
Surtr is the current god of Arknights, and her combination of Arts damage, ignoring RES, and survival after death makes it unlikely she’ll be dethroned any time soon. Ifrit is more limited in scope, but her massive DPS and potent debuffs are tempting targets as well.
The 5★ units are less ideal, however. Meteorite is quite strong, but AoE Snipers are situational at best, and Reed and Skyfire are simply outclassed in their archetypes. Even so, you could consider doing Headhunt x1 on this banner until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.
Quick Overview
+ Ignores a flat amount of enemy RES when attacking (Talent 1)
+ When she takes fatal damage, she remains on the field for a few more seconds before retreating (Talent 2)
+ S1 massively increases the damage of her next attack and refreshes immediately if it kills the target; absolutely destroys weak enemies, since the Skill can refresh indefinitely
+ S2 increases ATK, attack range, and target count, with a further boost to ATK if hitting only one enemy, making it perfect for consistent ST or AOE damage
+ S3 is Armageddon in a cup, increasing Surtr’s ATK, attack range, and target count even more than S2 while also giving her +5000 HP (!)
+ Skills have VERY quick charge times
= S3 is PERMANENT once activated
- Archetype weaknesses: Block-1, high DP cost
- S3 constantly damages Surtr, up to 20% of her max HP per second, typically forcing her to retreat sooner or later
- If using S3 multiple times in a battle, Surtr’s increasing DP cost can become very expensive
Burninator (unique AoE Caster)
+ Deals colossal AoE Arts DPS in a very unique “straight line” attack range
+ Debuffs the defensive stats of enemies, helping your entire team burn them down even faster
+ Her S2’s DEF debuff and her S3’s RES debuff are flat stat reductions, which are VERY powerful
+ Good uptime on her Skills
- Usual AoE Caster limitations: high DP cost, slow attack speed
- Unique attack range makes it hard to position her effectively on some maps
- S3 cannot damage flying enemies
+ High RES due to her Talent, which helps her to survive on the frontlines against Arts damage or assassinate enemy Casters
+ Doubles her DP gain with S2
= Deals Physical and Arts damage with S2; unfortunately, this also means her S2’s damage is
reduced by both DEF and RES
- Typical Archetype weaknesses: Block-1 and has to land the killing blow to earn DP
- DPS output is not particularly high compared to Bagpipe (at 6*) or Vigna (at 4*)
+ Massive attack range and enormous damage potential with crit-chance Talent
+ Can debuff enemy DEF with her S2
- Slow attack speed
- Can struggle against high-DEF targets, even with her S2
+ Typical Archetype strengths: AoE Arts damage, high base ATK
+ Can Stun enemies with her S2, making her valuable in stall teams
- Typical Archetype weaknesses: high DP cost, low attack speed
- S2 does a lot of damage per hit, but it actually does less DPS than S1 due to dramatically slowing her already slow attack speed
Surtr
Surtr is a woman who takes the difficulty curve of Arknights and snaps it over her knee. Then she sets it on fire. As an Arts Guard, she already deals a boatload of damage to most enemies; with her RES-reducing Talent, she does even more. Her Skills make that damage potential explode-nentially stronger. In fact, she may be one of the hardest-hitting Operators yet released in Arknights. Surtr can kill anything!—including, unfortunately, herself, since her S3 deals constant damage to her that virtually guarantees an eventual retreat. However, first it’ll trigger her E2 Talent, which keeps her on the field at 1 HP for several seconds no matter how much damage she’s taking, giving her time to incinerate her last few targets before she heads to the bench to cool down.
I absolutely recommend pulling for Surtr.
Ifrit
Ifrit has a unique attack range, heavy AoE Arts damage (potentially with damage-over-time after her initial hit), and very strong DEF and RES debuffs. All of this makes her a remarkably potent addition to a team. However, her straight-line attack range makes her tricky to deploy well on some stages; furthermore, being an AoE Caster means she suffers from a high DP cost and a slow attack speed.
On the plus side, Ifrit works around these limitations better than most AoE Casters due to her strong Skills. As long as Ifrit can hit at least one grid on the map, her high damage per hit and lasting debuffs can be enough to make her worthwhile. And with the sheer length of her attack range, she can usually get that one grid of coverage without too much trouble. She’s definitely better suited for maps with long straightaways that she can take advantage of, but that’s not all she can do--not by a long shot.
I don’t recommend pulling for Ifrit, but she’s well worth raising if you pull her.
Reed
Reed was overshadowed pretty quickly after her release by 6* DP-on-Kill Vanguard Bagpipe, who is well-known to be ridiculously powerful. This is understandable, but is it fair? Well, Reed has terrific RES due to her Talent, so she’s good for dueling Arts-DPS enemies, and her S3 causes her to gain an extra DP every time she gets a kill, making her DP recovery potential unmatched among her Archetype. Gaining 2 DP per kill (or 3, if Zima is also on the field!) is a massive boon at the start of a map.
Unfortunately, Reed’s big downside is her DPS, which isn’t very high at all. In fact, it’s fairly comparable to 4* DP-on-Kill Vigna. Considering that Bagpipe is a loose cannon who has more DPS than she knows what to do with, and considering that Vigna is cheaper to deploy, level, and increase in Potential, it’s difficult to rationalize raising Reed instead.
I don’t recommend pulling for Reed, especially if you have Bagpipe.
Meteorite
Meteorite is very simple to understand. Point at enemies. Watch enemies go boom.
This isn’t a bad thing, either. Between her crit-chance Talent and her automatic S1, Meteorite is beautifully low-maintenance and terrifyingly effective. She has a little utility with her S2, which leaves a powerful DEF debuff on targets, but Meteorite is really all about damage in the best way possible.
Meteorite’s only issues are those inherent to the AoE Sniper archetype: high DP cost and very slow ASPD. The slow ASPD severely impedes her overall DPS and makes it generally inefficient to use her against tough solo enemies and bosses. When swarms appear, however, Meteorite is one of the best in the business for taking them out.
I don’t recommend pulling for Meteorite, but she’s well worth raising if you pull her.
Skyfire
Poor Skyfire is still a famously undertuned Operator. She isn’t useless by any means, but she’s something of a noob trap. When you read the description of her S2, she sounds like a harbinger of mass destruction due to its gargantuan ATK boost (+240% damage at max level!) It looks like it when you use it, too: a huge flaming meteor tears out of the sky and crushes things into a fine paste! It feels amazing.
Unfortunately, what you may not notice at first is that Skyfire’s S2 actually has lower DPS than her S1 (which is just a vanilla ATK buff and not a particularly good one). How is this possible? The problem is how the Skill slows down Skyfire’s already-slow ASPD. At such a slow speed, Skyfire’s S2 isn’t actually very good for damage. It still has use for stalling strategies due to the Stun it causes, but even there the slow ASPD can be a big inconvenience.
I don’t recommend pulling for Skyfire.
