Arknights: Mastery Priority Guide

May 06, 2023

Welcome to another update. This schedule sure is something, ain't it? It's weird, but this event is a good one and we do finally have IS#3 so let's at least try to enjoy it.

I'd like to take this space to say that I've finally pushed out my first Arknights fanfiction! I love writing so I've wanted to dip my toes into some fiction for a while now. I've actually written quite a bit, but not much I felt was worth sharing, so this is a big step for me. This particular piece is a fast-paced escape featuring two of my favorites, April and Kazemaru.

If you'd like to read my first public fiction, you can find it over here on AO3. Be warned, that although the version linked here is not explicit, it does deal with mature subject matter, and there is an explicit version in my profile.

Thanks Alyeska for letting me shill myself here. Now, onto your regularly scheduled Mastery update.

This article specifically covers the new units from the Il Siracusano event, You can find the full version of the guide here, or on the banner below which covers all of the other noteworthy Masteries in the game

Q: Should I pull?

A: In terms of meta, absolutely. Texas the Omertosa is one of the best units in the game, period. She is second only to Mlynar, in my opinion. She is the complete package: crazy DPS, access to RES shred, stall utility / survivability, and all of the flexibility that FRDs bring. She's the kind of unit that's so good she can rot your brain if you use her too much.

The only reason not to pull here is if meta doesn't interest you. I hesitate to write anything negative here about the rest of the banner for fear of giving the wrong impression. Even if the other two units were the worst in the game (and they aren't), Texas alone would still make this a must roll banner.

Q: Is Penance good? Does she powercreep Mudrock?

A: It's easy to view everything through the lens of powercreep these days. After all, in the last few months alone we've gotten better Schwarz, better SilverAsh, and now better (by a lot) Phantom. However, Penance is much more of a sidegrade to the existing Juggernaut, Mudrock.

While Penance is good, Mudrock tends to be the better "general purpose" unit. The thing with Penance is that she is reliant on her Barrier for sustain, and the only way she can gain that is by killing enemies herself (that SHE has to kill, not just help kill) or S3 activations. When placed with the rest of the team, she pretty quickly loses the war of attrition as other DPS units steal her kills or don't allow her to fully charge S3. Mudrock, meanwhile, is much more consistent. She can sustain herself regardless of the surrounding killing power.

To be very clear, Penance's kit is extremely good; however, the fact that she works best alone means that she's more situational than Mudrock is. This is why Penance can do extreme things like solo Patriot or hold the middle lane in max risk CC#12, but won't appear in general teams as often.

Q: Is Vigil really that bad?

A: Yes, he is. He is easily the worst 6★ in the game. There are a lot of reasons why. I could probably write a whole article on the topic. I might even do that, which is why I won't address them point by point here. It would take too long and that isn't the goal of this particular article. The TL;DR of it though is that his wolves suck, his damage is dependent on the wolves (who suck), his skill cycles are awful, and he has no utility to make up for it all.

In the current state of the game, most other "bad" 6★s have at least found a niche that they excel in. Mostima has an excellent Module for stalling. Pallas is a good IS#2 pick. Carnelian still has solid true AoE DPS. And so on. Vigil though... doesn't really do anything well. He has poor DP gen, no utility, and his damage is only "good" in a very narrow band of situations. All that is before getting into things like the Flagpipe-meta or how Vanguards are often unnecessary in the first place.

Of course, he isn't technically "unusable". Almost no unit in the game is truly unusable. If you think he is an appealing character, then by all means. However, he is so far behind every other 6★, most 5★s, and even some 4★s that there just isn't any gameplay reason to spend the resources on his very expensive upgrades.

Q: Should I pull for Texas pots?

A: If you have to ask, no. I noted a similar question in the discussion of Mlynar's banner. Texas' pots are actually more valuable than Mlynar's, by the numbers. I said not to roll for pots there either, but noted he was a good option if you wanted to spend a little bit. However in this scenario, it's just so expensive to pull for Limited potentials. The lower rate-up means the variance in average pulls is quite extreme. Unless you're prepared to open your wallet in a big way, you probably shouldn't pull to excess here. You should also be aware that a bulk of the difference comes at the Redeploy at pot 4 and Talent improvement at pot 5 (i.e. extremely expensive) which is just enough to let her squeeze in an extra attack on both S2 and S3. If you only pull her to pot 3, you won't notice much of a difference.

Texas is so strong that you will be fine with her at pot1. Trust me, she's that good. But I mean... Well, it's cheaper to just make a whale friend and let them pull for the pots.

Q: Does the change to alters have any effect on the Mastery guide?

A: No. It's a very nice change, but the guide typically considers most grades in a vacuum. Guard Ch'en may become more viable with the change, but the grades certainly shouldn't assume everyone has Sniper Ch'en, for example.

The only change is that a few write-ups have been touched up. While there wasn't much influence on the grades, it was mentioned on occasion, and those are no longer necessary.

Q: If I pull enough to spark, who should I take?

A: Texas2 > Skadi2 > Nearl2 >> W >> Rosmontis. I probably wouldn't take Penance with the spark unless there were no other options since she isn't limited, but meta-wise she would fall between Nearl and W. Also note that Specter2 is not on the banner or available to spark.

Also, while this is out of scope of the guide, if you don't have enough to reach 300 or have everyone already, it is better to take Lunacub dupes for gold certs than it is to let them roll over to materials.

Q: Why is IS#3 coming out now?

A: I have no clue. While Yostar constantly makes schedule decisions that seem perplexing, there is usually some logic there (not always good logic, but at least something). With this though, I literally have no idea what they’re thinking. IS#3 could have been run almost any time in the last two months without issue, yet Yostar decided to launch it simultaneously with the most major event in the timeframe. How is this OK, but overlapping CC isn't?

I’ll stop there. I don't want to go on a huge rant about it in an unrelated article, but I had to get it out somewhere…

Anyway, for something related to the guide, I’ve included Highmore here in this update. I actually put her update out a month and a half ago, but I’ve included it here again for those that missed it.

Q: Any Module thoughts this patch?

A: Global - Il Siracusano - There's nothing that affects grades here.

Global - IS#3 - There is a small adjustment for Dusk here.

CN - Lone Trail - The Modules here are really good.

Texas the Omertosa

Penance

Lunacub

Vigil

Qanipalaat

Quartz

Highmore

There are very few absolute answers when it comes to prioritizing upgrades. A major determining factor is what exactly your goals are. Now, there are actually many more types of players than these three, but the most obvious delineation as far as which Masteries to think about comes down to the type of content you're most interested in clearing. If you only find value in first time story clears and risk 18 CC, then your goals will be different for someone looking to reach high-risk (25+) in CC.

Story - A story player is a player who is only interest in rewarded content. This means all normal stages and challenge modes (without added personal challenges), risk 8 on CC daily stages, risk 18 on CC permanent stages, and the SSS game mode.

Advanced - An advanced player here is any player interested in non-reward topics such as higher risk CC and more min-maxed gameplay or specialty clears.

A note on the topic of the Advanced grades is that these grades should not be taken as specific advice for a specific CC. There may be an occasional specific note to provide some context or example, but the intention here is to be more general than a particular event and prioritize skills that will be broadly useful in multiple scenarios. A skill appearing once in a high-risk CC is not enough for inclusion here as CCs tend to lend themselves to niche scenarios that can't really be planned for. Further still, Advanced grades encompass all min/maxed gameplay and do not, strictly speaking, have to be about CCs.

Roguelike - These grades are specific to the Integrated Strategies game mode (aka, the Roguelike mode or IS#2 or IS#3). These grades are slightly different compared to the Story vs Advanced delineation since the same sort of pressures apply in the mode regardless of the type of player you are. These grades tend to be more "meta" focused than the others. For IS#3, only up to Ascension 7 (trimmed medal) is considered for grades, however write-ups may include suggestions for higher Ascensions.

S - These Masteries are the cream of the crop. They are Masteries that everyone with the unit should do and give a high priority to. Units with S tier Masteries get an outsized value from them, either because the skill is incredibly powerful or because it changes how the unit is used. For the Roguelike mode, S-tier grades are reserved for the best skills on the most meta of units (whereas meta value is not necessarily a requirement in other mode grades).

A - These Masteries are powerful Skills that most players who have the unit should do. These are among the most powerful Masteries in the game, but less overtly overpowered than the S-tier Masteries.

B - These Masteries are reasonably powerful and worthy of consideration, but have a factor which hold them back. The impact may be relatively small for the cost, the unit may not be especially powerful already, the unit may not fit well into the meta, or there may be a better version available, among other examples.

C - These Masteries are strong enough to be noted, but should only be done by the most end game of players with nothing else to do. There's value in them, but most players will have something better to be doing.

Breakpoint - Not a true grade, but a designator given to an M1 that gives an unusually large benefit. In most cases, these should be prioritized immediately after the E2, thanks to their low cost and high value. Note that there are many M2 and M3 breakpoints but they are not considered breakpoints for this purpose as the cost is much more expensive. Also note that some breakpoints on valueless skills are excluded as well.

NG or None - Not a true grade, but these are sometimes used for Skills which are noteworthy but not worth Mastery. Either the skill or unit is not worth using, or the Mastery has very poor Mastery gains. NG stands for "No Grade".

Please remember all rankings here are considered independent of E2 priority, but do consider overall unit strength. And most importantly, these grades should be treated as guidelines rather than absolute requirements.

The Lone Trail units are included below, although hesitantly. I prefer to wait on units for a patch or too before reacting. However, because of how the schedules are offset, it may be a while until the next update and I know many people are interested in the units. Instead, I’ll leave the caveat that the assessments below of the Lone Trail units may change in the future and the likelihood I’m "wrong" here is slightly higher than normal.