PATCH 1.2.5 TEST AREA: FACTORY & PULL ANALYSIS | ENDFIELD

Patch 1.2.5 has landed and brought the largest mid-patch content drop since Endfield launched. The Test Area is open, the factory system picked up meaningful upgrades, mining caps shifted, and the community is still working out how to actually use any of it without wasting hours rebuilding their bases. If you logged in over the last 24 hours and felt slightly overwhelmed by purification nodes, water treatment routing, and the new Forge of the Sky slots, you are not alone.

This is the full breakdown of what 1.2.5 changed, what it actually means in practice, and how to think about your factory, your pulls, and your saving plan in the bridge weeks before Patch 1.3. We will keep it grounded in numbers and avoid the patch-note repackaging you can already get from the in-game mailbox.

TL;DR - Key Points

• Test Area is open — new explorable zone with purification nodes, expanded sewage processing, and additional liquid disposal options that change factory minmaxing.
• Side quest gates content — drain a sewage pond and shut off steam valves to unlock the deeper area. The entrance is easy to miss.
• Purification is a vanity metric — roughly 1 Xircon Effluent every 5 seconds at full throughput, only worth running for hardcore optimizers.
• Mining caps jumped — Originium 480 to 540, Cuprium 180 to 240, Ferrium unchanged at 90.
• Four new Forge of the Sky slots — most players are pushing Heavy Xiranite to ~12 per minute and redirecting freed Cuprium into Hetonite or Yazhen Syringes.
• Building cap still 350/350 — no relief from 1.2.5, workarounds still apply.
• Fest of Brilliance banner pity does not carry — plan single-target pulls carefully, especially between Gilberta and Pognachik.
• Patch 1.3 lands ~early June — vampire operator, Mi Fu, and Feranmut Proxy on the horizon.

What the Test Area Actually Is

The Test Area is the newest explorable zone in Arknights: Endfield, and it represents a meaningful expansion of the game’s environmental storytelling alongside a fresh layer of factory mechanics. Players who pushed in early have been near-universal in their praise of the atmosphere, with several commenters comparing certain vistas to oil paintings. The visual identity that has carried Endfield since launch continues to be one of its strongest selling points.

But the zone is not just window dressing. It introduces purification nodes, expanded sewage processing, new mining configurations, and additional liquid disposal options that change how committed factory builders approach base optimization. If you have been bottlenecked on Wuling effluent for months, this zone gives you a new lever to pull — the question is whether pulling it is worth your time.

The Test Area also gates part of its content behind a quest chain. To access the steam-blocked areas, you need to complete a quest that begins with draining a sewage pond and ends with shutting off steam valves. If you have been circling the zone wondering how to push deeper, that is your starting point. The entrance to the relevant underground area is easy to miss, so take time mapping the perimeter before assuming you have explored everything.

The New Purification Node System

The headline mechanical addition in 1.2.5 is the purification node, and the community has been actively testing whether it is worth integrating into existing factory builds.

The short answer: at this exact moment, purification is for factory minmaxers only. For most players, the marginal gains do not justify running long pipe lines from Wuling or Jingyu Valley out to the Test Area.

The ratio is rough. Sewage converts to Xircon Effluent at roughly 30 to 1, and the three-input limit combined with the standard 2-per-second pipe cap means you are looking at approximately 1 Xircon Effluent every 5 seconds at full throughput. That assumes you generate enough sewage to keep the nodes constantly fed, which is unlikely for most factory configurations.

That said, if you are the type of player who finds satisfaction in squeezing out every last unit of production, the math does check out. By funneling all available sewage and inert effluent through the new system and combining it with Metastorage Ferrium Powder and the increased originium output from the new mining nodes, you can push slightly more SC Wuling Battery production. The realistic gain is around 1.66 extra units of Xircon Effluent per 2 seconds at full optimization, which translates to roughly half a battery’s worth of additional output per cycle.

It is a vanity metric. But for the players who care, the option now exists. If you already have a sewage-optimized AIC layout running near peak, the purification node is a respectable next step.

Forge of the Sky Expansion and What to Build

Patch 1.2.5 added four additional Forge of the Sky slots, and the obvious question is what to actually produce in them. Community consensus is that the new forges primarily exist to support increased Heavy Xiranite production, since Ferrium supply remains the limiting factor for SC Battery output.

Most players are using the additional forges to push Heavy Xiranite up to around 12 per minute. The excess Cuprium that frees up can then be routed into either Hetonite components or Yazhen Syringes, both of which sell for roughly the same per-Cuprium return rate — plan the new layout in the AIC planner before tearing down belts, and reference our Endgame Blueprints Part 8 mega-base for a working Test Area layout. If you have been sitting on a Hetonite shortage that was causing Cuprium to back up in your pipes, this patch finally gives you the breathing room to fix that bottleneck.

The second outpost also received a Level 3 upgrade, boosting its hourly stock bill generation significantly. Previous rate was approximately 8,400 per hour, the new figure is meaningfully higher, making outpost optimization more rewarding than it was at launch.

Forge Allocation Cheat Sheet

Mining Node Capacity Changes

The updated maximum capacities after Patch 1.2.5:

The Originium boost is particularly relevant because it directly enables the extra battery production strategy mentioned above. If you have been running close to your previous cap, audit your downstream production lines to make sure you are actually consuming the additional throughput rather than letting it sit idle. A buffer is fine. A permanent overflow is wasted infrastructure investment.

The Persistent 350 Building Limit Problem

One of the most frustrating issues that did not get addressed in 1.2.5 is the structure count cap. Players running tightly optimized factories continue to bump into the 350/350 building limit, and the new content provides no relief.

The community workarounds remain largely the same:

• Delete your farm if you are not actively using it.
• Remove towers from the alluvium when defensive coverage is not needed.
• Move buildings between factories where space allows.
• Strip unnecessary turrets and consolidate sub-AICs as tightly as possible to relieve the main AIC.
• Rip out garden plots if you have been treating them as cosmetic filler — they count toward the limit.

Pipes and their associated logistics do not count toward the 512 limit in Wuling, although pipe logistics themselves have a separate 128 cap. Belt logistics including item control ports do count toward the facility limit.

The intermittent issue with sub-AICs stopping production has also persisted into 1.2.5. Some players are reporting that their Buck Capsule output drops to zero until they manually teleport to each sub-AIC, at which point production resumes. The cause remains unclear, and it does not appear tied to any specific region, output, or outpost configuration. It seems to self-resolve in most cases, but if you have been seeing dips in your stockpile and could not figure out why, this is likely the culprit.

Pull Economy in the Test Area Era

Beyond the factory updates, 1.2.5 lands in the middle of the ongoing Fest of Brilliance banner, and the pull conversation has reached fever pitch as players try to decide between Gilberta, Laevatein, Pognachik, and Ardelia.

Community sentiment on the four-character special banner is fairly consistent. Pity does not carry over to or from this banner, which is clearly stated under the banner details in-game. That means any pulls you sink that do not result in your target are effectively lost currency once it ends. Plan accordingly.

For players debating between Pognachik and Gilberta as their single-pull target, the prevailing advice favors Gilberta in most cases. While Pognachik is considered a pillar of the physical team and significantly improves its overall feel, he is also obtainable through the standard banner selector, which makes him a more recoverable miss long-term. Gilberta, by contrast, slots into a wider variety of compositions and provides meaningful damage amplification through her ultimate, particularly in premium Rossi Arts setups with Tangtang.

The exception is the heat team built around Laevatein. Gilberta’s amp window only lasts five seconds, which does not synchronize well with Laevatein’s longer damage window. In that specific archetype, Ardelia is the more reliable support choice because of her ability to force corruption applications.

Team Building in the Current Meta

Several compositions have stabilized in the community discussion as the optimal builds heading out of 1.2.5:

Rossi remains one of the most flexible options in the game right now — see our full team tier list for the current ranking. Because her hybrid physical kit synergizes with nearly any operator that is not a pure Arts striker, she works as a future-proof investment. Hybrid teams that pair Rossi with borrowed supports are particularly approachable for players who have not built every limited operator.

Energy and SP Math Made Simple

For players trying to figure out whether a specific team can actually hit its ultimate breakpoints, the math is more accessible than it looks:

• Every 100 SP spent (one full bar) generates 6.5 ultimate energy distributed to non-striker party members.
• Combo skills give 10 energy to the user.
• Strikers require significantly more ultimate energy but also generate large amounts of energy when their skills are properly set up.
• Rossi has hidden energy bonuses on the second hits of both her battle skill and combo skill, granting 10 bonus energy on each — not listed in the standard tooltips.

One detail that catches new players off guard: Last Rite does not receive ultimate energy from other party members’ battle skills. Her energy generation is self-contained.

Finishers and normal attacks do not generate ultimate energy directly. They only generate SP, which then converts to energy when spent. This means farming trash mobs will not accelerate your ultimate timing the way it might in similar games.

Weapon Banner Mechanics, Clarified

A few weapon banner details have caused confusion in the community that are worth restating clearly:

• Chartered weapon banners remain active for three character banner cycles. Once the third banner ends, the weapon banner disappears and any accumulated pity is lost — track all past banners in our banner history.
• Pity does not carry between different weapon banners, even when they appear to offer the same weapons.
• The naming convention is the key indicator. Laevatein’s original weapon banner was “Smelting Forge”; the current one is “Smelting Smelting Fire” — technically a different banner with its own independent pity counter.
• The 120-pull selector from Fest of Brilliance does not generate arsenal currency. Players counting on those tickets to push toward signature weapons are out of luck. The selector is functionally a free six-star and nothing more.

How 1.2.5 Plays by Player Type

The patch hits different player profiles very differently. Here is how to triage your time and currency:

Casual / Story Player. Run the Test Area for the atmosphere and the steam valve quest chain. Skip the purification node entirely. Pull on Fest of Brilliance only if you genuinely want one of the four featured characters — the lost-pity penalty makes this a bad currency dump otherwise.

Mid-Game Factory Builder. Upgrade your second outpost to Level 3, slot the four new Forges into Heavy Xiranite, and audit your Cuprium pipes for backup. Skip purification unless you are already running a sewage-saturated AIC. Use the freed Forge capacity to fix your worst material bottleneck rather than chasing peak battery output.

Endgame Minmaxer. Run the purification chain. Push Originium to the new 540 cap. Calculate whether the extra ~0.83 batteries per cycle justify the pipe routing cost in your specific layout. Audit your sub-AICs daily for the production-stall bug.

Pull-Focused Saver. Hold the line. The 120-240 pull buffer matters more than ever with vampire operator, Mi Fu, and Feranmut Proxy all expected in 1.3 and 1.4. Do not splash on Fest of Brilliance unless one of the featured units is a confirmed team unlock for you.

Common Mistakes in Patch 1.2.5

Watch for these specifically — they show up across community threads daily:

• Routing purification pipes before checking your sewage supply. If your factory is not already sewage-saturated, the purification node sits idle. Audit input first, build pipes second.
• Allocating new Forges to Cuprium-blocked outputs. If your Hetonite is bottlenecked, dumping more Heavy Xiranite production just shifts the jam upstream.
• Pulling on Fest of Brilliance for Pognachik. He is in the standard banner selector. Saving for him there is the correct play in almost every case.
• Ignoring the sub-AIC stall bug. If your Buck Capsule stockpile suddenly stops growing, teleport to each sub-AIC and check production status. This bug has cost players half a day of output.
• Deleting garden plots without checking AIC food supply. Garden plots count toward the 350 cap, but ripping them all out without a plan can cost you operator stamina recovery downstream.

Watch List: What Could Change This Analysis

A few items worth tracking over the next three weeks:

• Patch 1.3 patch notes when they drop, especially anything that adjusts the 350 building cap or expands purification node throughput.
• Mi Fu’s official kit — if she truly synergizes with the Fangyi electric team, current team-building advice changes overnight.
• Vampire operator banner positioning — if she lands as a limited rather than a standard, the saving math tightens dramatically.
• Any hotfix for the sub-AIC stall bug — this is the most disruptive open issue in the factory loop right now.
• Heavy Xiranite price floor in player markets — if everyone pushes to 12/min simultaneously, expect downstream economy ripples.

Final Read on Patch 1.2.5

The Test Area is a clear win for Endfield’s content cadence. The visual design is exceptional, the new mechanical systems give factory optimization enthusiasts fresh material to chew on, and the supporting upgrades to mining caps, forge slots, and outpost generation rates make existing systems feel more rewarding.

The building limit remains a persistent frustration that the developers need to address, and the purification node system feels more like a proof of concept for future expansion than a genuinely meaningful current-patch feature. The pull pressure of Fest of Brilliance is a separate conversation that mostly comes down to whether you trust yourself to hold a saving line through 1.3 and 1.4.

For casual players: log in, run the steam valve quest, marvel at the landscapes. For factory builders: this is your window to push your base toward its theoretical maximum even if the practical gains are modest. For pull-focused players: the bigger story remains the upcoming 1.3 banners and the discipline of staying liquid.

FAQ

Is the purification node worth building for casual factory players? No. The throughput-to-effort ratio is poor unless your factory is already sewage-saturated and you are chasing every last battery per cycle. For 90 percent of players, the Test Area is better experienced as story content than as a factory expansion.

How do I unlock the deeper Test Area zones? Complete the quest chain that begins with draining a sewage pond and ends with shutting off the steam valves. The entrance to the underground area is easy to miss — map the zone perimeter carefully before assuming you have seen everything.

What should I build in the four new Forge of the Sky slots? Push Heavy Xiranite toward 12 per minute first. Redirect freed Cuprium into Hetonite if your downstream is jammed, or Yazhen Syringes if your Hetonite is already saturated. The two outputs return roughly the same per-Cuprium value.

Did the 350 building limit get raised in 1.2.5? No. The cap is unchanged. Workarounds include deleting unused farms, garden plots, alluvium towers, and consolidating sub-AICs. Pipes themselves do not count, but pipe logistics have a separate 128 cap.

Should I pull Gilberta or Pognachik on Fest of Brilliance? Gilberta in most cases. Pognachik is available through the standard banner selector, which makes him recoverable. Gilberta slots into more compositions and her amp window is harder to replicate without her.

Does Fest of Brilliance pity carry to the next banner? No. Any pulls that do not hit your target are lost currency when the banner ends. The in-game banner details note this explicitly.

Will my unused weapon banner pity transfer to a future weapon banner? No. Each chartered weapon banner has its own independent pity counter. Even similarly named banners (such as “Smelting Forge” and “Smelting Smelting Fire”) are technically different banners.

When is Patch 1.3 expected to release? Roughly early June 2026, about three weeks from the time of writing. The Protocol Pass timer is the most reliable indicator — battle passes consistently align with major version releases.

Who are the most-anticipated 1.3 and 1.4 characters worth saving for? The vampire operator (1.3 timing), Mi Fu (suspected Fangyi electric synergy), Feranmut Proxy, and the longer-horizon Camille and Arcane releases. Most saving plans being discussed treat 120-240 pulls as a permanent buffer.

My sub-AIC stopped producing Buck Capsules. What do I do? Teleport to each sub-AIC and check production status. The stall bug seems to self-resolve once the player physically visits the affected AIC. The root cause has not been identified, and it has persisted into 1.2.5.

Patch 1.3 lands in roughly three weeks. The wise move is to run the Test Area now for the atmosphere, slot your new Forges for material relief, and keep your currency dry for what comes next.