ARKNIGHTS: ENDFIELD CHARACTER TIER LIST (V1.2)

Talos-II is two months into Version 1.2, and the meta has settled into a sharper shape than launch promised. The Sunderblade rotation popularized by Zhuang Fangyi has displaced raw elemental output as the bar, and squads now win or lose on how cleanly they can chain status applications, consumptions, and reaction triggers. This tier list ranks every operative in the global roster against that updated bar — and the long-form sections below explain every placement in detail so you can argue with the rankings instead of taking them on faith.

If you are new to the system, the high-level model is simple. Physical damage is governed by a "build then consume" cycle around Vulnerability stacks. Arts damage layers four elements — Heat, Electric, Cryo, and Nature — that compound through Bursts and Reactions. Every meta-defining operative in Version 1.2 is a specialist somewhere in that loop: an enabler that builds the right stacks, a consumer that capitalises on them, or a hybrid that does both inside one rotation.

The rankings below pull together two months of community testing, CN server feedback, and patch-cycle observations. If you have not yet read the foundational mechanics, the inflictions and reactions guide and the damage formula deep dive are essential reading and pair naturally with this article.

For pull planning ahead of Version 1.3, jump straight to the outlook section near the bottom. Otherwise, work through it in order — the deep dives reference mechanics introduced in the first section, and the team comps reference the operatives covered in the second.

Quick Answer

Version 1.2's best DPS is Zhuang Fangyi on raw ceiling, with Yvonne still the benchmark single-target boss killer and Laevatain unchallenged at AoE wave clear. The best support is Ardelia — free at launch, applies both Physical and Arts Susceptibility through Corrosion shred, and slots into every team regardless of element.

7 SS-tier and 5 S-tier operators define the current meta in v1.2. Before pulling for any of them, cross-reference the team tier list — synergy matters more than raw tier for clearing endgame content, and a coherent A-tier comp will outperform a mismatched SS-heavy roster.

The Tier Rankings

Here are the Version 1.2 rankings in full. Operators are bucketed by how much utility they add to a top-end squad, not by raw rarity — a couple of the 5-stars below sit higher than 6-stars in the same role, and the reasoning lives in the per-card notes. Click any operator portrait to jump to the full character page with build recommendations and Artificing notes.

Read the tiers as bands rather than strict orderings. A unit at the top of A-tier outperforms one at the bottom of S-tier in plenty of stages, especially once you account for team synergy. Use the cards for quick lookup, then read the deep dives below for the reasoning that drove each placement.

SS Tier — Meta-Defining

The SS tier is reserved for operatives that define the meta. Each kit either anchors an elemental archetype on its own or bridges two systems in a way nobody else does. Every premium endgame composition includes at least one of the units below.

The throughline across SS is role compression. Laevatain anchors Heat, Zhuang Fangyi anchors Electric, Yvonne anchors single-target Cryo, and the remaining three — Tangtang, Rossi, and Gilberta — bridge systems instead of doubling down on one. Skip an SS pick only if you already have another covering the same archetype.

S Tier — Optimal Assets

S-tier is where the meta gets opinionated. Each operative here is the best in the game at one specific job, and every premium endgame comp is built around at least one of them. They do not headline a team the way SS units do, but skipping them leaves a hole that nothing in A-tier can fill.

Pogranichnik is the highest-priority pull in this tier because nothing else generates SP at his rate while applying Breach in the same window. Avywenna's jump from A to S in Version 1.2 is the clearest single-patch movement on the list and reflects how completely Zhuang Fangyi reshaped the Electric archetype.

A Tier — Specialists

A-tier operatives are specialists. They shine inside specific team compositions and fall off when used outside them. Most of the list below is 5-star rarity, which makes A-tier the easiest band to fill out without committing limited pulls.

If you are building toward a specific elemental core, the A-tier picks tied to that element are usually a better investment than chasing a second SS unit in another archetype. Roster breadth wins more fights than vertical investment in v1.2 endgame, and Xaihi in particular is functionally irreplaceable in Cryo cores despite her 5-star rarity.

B Tier — Situational

B-tier operatives are reliable but niche — useful in the right team and skippable everywhere else. None of the units below are bad picks, they simply have a narrow window where they outperform A-tier alternatives.

That window has narrowed in Version 1.2 because the meta stabilised around Sunderblade rotations and hybrid Shatter compositions. Build B-tier operatives only when a specific stage demands their utility, and prioritise A-tier shells the rest of the time.

C Tier — Lower Priority

C-tier operatives are outclassed by higher-rarity options. The list exists so completionists know which units to skip when prioritising investment.

Neither pick is unusable, but every other tier offers a stronger ceiling for the same resource spend. Treat C-tier as a reference rather than a build target.

Combat Foundations: Statuses and Reactions

Endfield separates damage into two parallel systems. Physical damage moves through a stack-and-consume cycle anchored on Vulnerability. Arts damage layers element-specific Inflictions that escalate into Bursts and, when mixed with a second element, into Reactions. The cleanest teams in Version 1.2 are the ones that touch both systems through hybrid units like Rossi and Gilberta, and that is the single biggest behavioural change from the launch meta.

On the Physical side, every status application either builds Vulnerability or consumes it. The first Physical effect applied to a clean target always converts into a Vulnerability stack regardless of its named status — Lift, Knock Down, Crush, and Breach all funnel into the same counter. Vulnerability caps at four stacks. From there, the strategic question is timing: build more stacks for a bigger payoff, or consume now to keep the squad's burst windows aligned with the rest of the rotation.

Physical Status Reference

The table below is the at-a-glance reference for which Physical statuses build Vulnerability and which consume it. Treat the "Strategic Impact" column as a checklist when you draft a Physical team — you need at least one consumer in the squad, and you should have at least two distinct builders that overlap in cooldown windows.

The practical read of that table is that Crush and Breach are interchangeable consumers in most rotations, but Breach pulls ahead in long fights because the defence shred lingers after the burst lands. Crush is sharper for execute windows on low-HP bosses where you need every available stack converted to damage in one beat.

Arts Reaction Matrix

On the Arts side, applying the same element twice triggers a Burst — immediate damage plus an Infliction stack. Mixing elements triggers a Reaction. The damage of a Reaction scales off the number of pre-existing stacks of the first element when the second one is introduced, which is why supports like Perlica and Wulfgard are so valuable: they preload high stack counts before the carry actually consumes them. Arts Intensity is the stat that ties this together. Each point adds a 1% multiplier to Reaction damage and duration, which is why gear like the Eternal Xiranite set is the default for Caster supports rather than raw ATK% pieces.

Shatter is the bridge mechanic that hybrid teams now exploit aggressively. A Cryo unit applies Solidification, a Physical unit immediately consumes it, and the squad clears single-target damage checks that pure Cryo or pure Physical comps would lose to. Once you start seeing every Reaction in the matrix as either a setup or a payoff for Shatter, the rest of the Version 1.2 meta clicks into place.

SS-Tier Operative Deep Dives

The operatives below are the meta-defining picks of Version 1.2. Each one either anchors an elemental archetype on its own, bridges two systems in a way that nobody else does, or both. Read these in order — the comp recommendations later in the article assume you have at least a passing familiarity with each kit.

Zhuang Fangyi — The Electric Hypercarry

Zhuang Fangyi released as the premier 6-star Electric DPS in mid-April and fundamentally altered the Electric meta within a week. Her Battle Skill, Mantra of Sundering, consumes Electrification stacks on a target to fire Thunder Strikes, with damage and Sunderblade output scaling off the consumed stack level. The kit reads as "stacked damage tax on whoever set up the Electrification" — and because almost every Electric support in the roster does set up Electrification, she slots into pre-existing teams without forcing a rotation rewrite.

Her real ceiling is the ult — Smiting Tempest enters the Empyrean of Truth state, where she gains interrupt resistance, her first Battle Skill cast becomes free, and her Combo Skill cooldown drops by 400%. The result is a near-continuous loop of Electrification upgrade → consumption → Sunderblade detonation. The catch: she demands serious Ultimate Gain Efficiency investment to keep that state up during long boss encounters. The Zhuang Fangyi build guide covers the rotation in detail and includes the breakpoint numbers you need to hit before the ult uptime becomes self-sustaining.

Tangtang — The Universal Enabler

Tangtang is the most flexible operative on Talos-II right now. She is nominally a Cryo Caster, but her kit functions as sub-DPS, support, and ult-window enabler at the same time. Her ultimate triggers a full-screen time stop that holds bosses in place — including endgame Umbral Monument fights — and that single utility is enough to justify her SS placement on its own.

The deeper reason she shows up in every premium comp is that her Combo Skill triggers on any Cryo Infliction or Arts Burst, not just her own. That clause means she slots into almost any composition without forcing a rotation rewrite. Her Battle Skill applies Cryo Infliction and Arts Susceptibility in the same hit, making her a clean replacement for Xaihi in premium Cryo cores once you have her built.

Laevatain — The Queen of Heat

Laevatain is still unmatched at AoE wave clear. Her gameplay loop centres on Melting Flame stacks, which she builds by absorbing Heat Inflictions placed on enemies — often by teammates like Akekuri or Wulfgard. At four stacks she gains Heat Resistance Ignore and her Battle Skill detonates into a wide-area forced Combustion, which is the single best AoE damage event in the v1.2 roster.

Her ultimate, Twilight, turns her into a frontline juggernaut. Her enhanced basic attacks apply Heat Infliction on the third strike, creating a self-sustaining Melting Flame loop that does not require teammate setup for the duration of the buff. Pair her with Ardelia for Corrosion shred and she clears v1.2 Umbral Monument waves faster than anything else in the roster.

Yvonne — The Single-Target Precisionist

Yvonne is the answer to "what kills the boss." Her Battle Skill, Brr-Brr-Bomb β, consumes existing Cryo or Nature Inflictions to force Solidification — and the act of forcing it generates massive Ultimate Energy for her. The result is a self-fueling ult cycle that no other unit currently matches against single high-HP targets, which is why she has held the boss-kill crown since launch despite Zhuang Fangyi's arrival.

During Cryoblasting Pistolier, her enhanced basics stack Crit Rate and Crit DMG, culminating in a Final Strike that consumes any remaining Solidification for a second burst. She is famously poor at AoE — pair her with Gilberta to cluster enemies before she opens fire, otherwise she will burn her ult window on the wrong target.

Gilberta — The Gravity Strategist

Gilberta was underrated through technical testing and has since become an SS-tier staple. Her Battle Skill, Arcane Staff: Gravity Mode, creates a gravity well that pulls scattered enemies into a single point, applies Nature Infliction, and sets up clean AoE bursts for the rest of the team. That single mechanic is worth more in v1.2 endgame than most operatives' entire kits.

Her ultimate, Gravity Field, applies an Arts Susceptibility debuff that scales with the number of Vulnerability stacks on the target — which is what makes her the bridge unit for hybrid Physical/Arts comps. She also passively heals the squad when striking multiple enemies, often removing the need for a dedicated medic. See the Zhuang Fangyi + Gilberta synergy guide for combined rotations and a worked Umbral Monument example.

Rossi — The Hybrid Catalyst

Rossi is the cleanest example of a hybrid DPS in the roster, dealing both Physical and Heat damage in the same rotation. Her defining trick is her Combo Skill, Moment of Blazing Shadow, which converts Arts Inflictions on the target into Vulnerability stacks — letting the squad treat any Arts unit as a Vulnerability builder for her. That single conversion expands her viable supporting cast by half the roster.

Her Battle Skill applies Razor Clawmark, a debuff that ticks Physical damage and amplifies both Physical and Heat sources. She rewards Perfect Timing inputs on her combo triggers with extra Critical Rate and damage, which makes her one of the few units where pure execution skill meaningfully lifts the damage ceiling. The Rossi build guide covers the timing windows and the gear recommendations that make the timing more forgiving while you are learning the loop.

S-Tier Specialists

S-tier is where the meta gets opinionated. Each of these operatives is the best in the game at one specific job, and every premium endgame comp is built around at least one of them. They do not headline a team the way the SS tier does, but skipping them leaves a hole that nothing in A-tier can fill.

Ardelia — The Universal Support

Ardelia is the single best target for early F2P investment. She is given to every launch player for free and her Corrosion shred applies both Physical and Arts Susceptibility — universal value, regardless of which carry you eventually pull. She is also the easiest support to gear, since the Eternal Xiranite set is widely farmable. If you only invest in one support to E2 before anyone else, make it her. The opportunity cost is essentially zero and the payoff applies to every team you will run for the next six months.

Pogranichnik — The Physical Engine

Pogranichnik is the SP battery that makes high-end Physical teams legal. He generates resource for the squad while applying Breach to consume Vulnerability stacks at the right moment in the rotation. He is the natural partner for Endministrator, Rossi, and Chen Qianyu, and his presence is often what separates an A-tier Physical comp from an S-tier one. Without him you will spend half the fight waiting for SP to refill.

Last Rite — F2P Cryo Anchor

Last Rite is the most F2P-friendly 6-star Cryo carry available. Her greatsword combos pile heavy stagger and her finishers deal freeze/shatter burst on stacked Inflictions. She requires more setup than Yvonne, but in mono-Cryo comps with Xaihi and Tangtang she still hits hard enough to clear endgame content without needing the Yvonne pull. That makes her the backbone of a lot of mid-budget rosters.

Endministrator — Physical Workhorse

The protagonist is not a placeholder. Their Physical kit centres on Originium Crystals, which immobilise enemies and then detonate when consumed by the ultimate. They function as either a primary Physical DPS or as a secondary Vulnerability consumer in advanced rotations where Rossi handles the main hits. The flexibility is what earns the S rating: the same character can headline a budget squad or backfill an SS-tier one.

Avywenna — Promoted to S in Version 1.2

Avywenna's stock has risen sharply now that Electric teams stabilise around Zhuang Fangyi. Her Thunderlance mechanic handles mid-sized packs and bursts harder during stagger windows, and her output piggybacks cleanly on Zhuang Fangyi's preloaded Electrification stacks. She is currently the best budget Electric DPS in the game and earns the S-tier promotion from her launch placement — one of the largest single-patch movements on this list.

Xaihi — The Budget Cryo Anchor

Xaihi technically sits in A-tier as a 5-star, but she deserves a callout here: in Yvonne and Last Rite teams she is functionally irreplaceable. Her consistent Cryo Infliction application matters more than the raw stat ceiling of higher-rarity supports, and her healing keeps tight squads alive in Umbral Monument runs. For most rosters she is the most-played 5-star in the game.

Archetypal Team Compositions

Endgame content rewards committed elemental lanes. The three compositions below are the cleanest rotations in Version 1.2 and map directly onto the SS and S-tier operatives covered above. Cross-reference with the team tier list for full synergy notes and the Umbral Monument guide for stage-specific tuning, but the bones of every Umbral Monument clear right now are one of these three squads.

Electric Burst (v1.2 Meta)

The Electric Burst team is the defining v1.2 comp: Zhuang Fangyi as the hypercarry, Perlica and Arclight as the Electrification battery, and Ardelia tying it together with universal shred. The rotation below is the canonical "open with stacks, consume into Sunderblades, detonate" loop that produces the v1.2 meta's highest single-window damage event.

The most common stumble on this rotation is firing the ultimate too early. Nine Sunderblades is the breakpoint where the chain lightning becomes worth the energy spend; anything below six and you would have produced more damage by waiting one more Battle Skill cycle. Use the on-screen blade counter, not your gut.

Cryo–Nature Crowd Control

Cryo–Nature is the bring-everything-else comp: Yvonne for the kill, Gilberta to cluster the adds and amplify Arts damage, Xaihi for consistent Cryo application, and Ardelia for the shred. This squad's edge is single-target boss fights with messy add waves, which is exactly what most v1.2 endgame stages throw at you.

The tricky part of this rotation is timing Gilberta's gravity well. Pull too early and Yvonne's Solidification scatters before the kill lands; pull too late and the adds escape the freeze window. Practise the timing on Umbral Monument's wave-based stages before you take the comp into a hard boss check.

Physical Shred (F2P Friendly)

The Physical Shred squad is the strongest F2P-legal comp in the game. None of its members requires a limited banner pull, and Pogranichnik is the only premium investment. The rotation leans on Vulnerability stacking and Breach consumption to clear single-target damage checks without needing an SS-tier headliner.

Where this comp falters is sustained AoE — the rotation is built around one big hit per cycle, so wave stages that demand consistent area damage stretch the cooldowns thin. Slot Rossi in for Endministrator if you pulled her; otherwise the comp clears every standard endgame stage given enough patience.

Methodology

Tier placements are based on Talos-II frontier combat performance and the meta as it stood at the end of patch 1.2.x — not on theoretical kit reading or pre-patch projections. The disclaimer the data file ships with is exact: rankings are anchored in industrial integration and frontier combat analysis for Version 1.2, the Sunderblade Electric meta cycle.

Five criteria drive every placement. The first is role compression: how many distinct jobs an operative covers inside one team slot. A unit that handles damage and utility at the same time earns more weight than a pure DPS, which is why hybrid kits like Rossi and Gilberta climbed into SS. The second is team synergy and dependence: whether the operative slots into multiple archetypes or only one, and whether they hard-require a specific partner to function. The third is burst window reliability: how consistently a kit lands its damage cycle without RNG, animation locks, or dropped stack counts.

The fourth criterion is endgame scaling with Potentials: how much an operative gains from rarity ceilings and dupes. Units that scale poorly past Potential 1 cap their tier ceiling because the meta keeps moving past them. The fifth is ease of execution: a unit that loses 30% of its damage to a missed timing window cannot be trusted in endgame even if the theoretical ceiling is high. Together these five weights produce the bands you see in the rankings above.

The tier framework itself is short. SS means meta-defining — universal utility, massive AoE damage, or unique mechanics that nothing else replicates. S means optimal assets — core anchors for specialised elemental cores or team archetypes. A means specialist — high-performance units that excel in specific compositions. B means situational — reliable but niche operators used as budget alternatives. C means lower priority — generally outclassed by higher-rarity options. Rankings will move when the meta moves; this page is updated every patch cycle, and the "Updated" date in the header is the canonical timestamp.

What's Next: Version 1.3 Outlook

Version 1.3 launches on May 29, 2026 and introduces the Seš'qa region alongside two landmark 6-star operatives. Both are projected to shift the meta in different directions, so quartz planning matters now — see the resource budget guide before pulling on the v1.2 reruns. The short version: if either upcoming unit fills a hole in your current roster, hold pulls.

Camille — The First Male 6-Star

Camille is the first male 6-star operative in Endfield. He is a Sarkaz Blood Hunter wielding a polearm, and his kit appears to revolve around life-drain and curse-burst mechanics. Early projections place him as a primary Physical hypercarry — meaning he could realistically displace Rossi or Endministrator at the top of the Physical archetype. If your Physical core is thin, save for him; if you already run Rossi at E2, Camille is closer to a sidegrade than an upgrade.

Mi Fu — Heat Brawler

Mi Fu arrives in Phase 1 of 1.3 and closes the Wuling story arc. She is a melee Heat-element DPS using gauntlet-style Arts Units, and she is widely expected to function as a high-impact replacement for existing Heat enablers. If you already run Laevatain, Mi Fu is a strong sidegrade rather than a must-pull — but if your Heat lane is empty, she is the most efficient way to fill it without committing a full pity to Laevatain on rerun.

Looking Further: Version 1.4 Hints

A young Feranmut proxy tied to the Hongshan Academy of Sciences has been teased for mid-2026. The community read is that Nature and a possible new Cosmic elemental archetype will get heavy support next cycle. If you skipped Gilberta and Ardelia at launch, do not skip them again — Nature is about to receive infrastructure, and the units already in your roster will benefit retroactively.

Frequently Asked Questions

That is the full Version 1.2 tier reasoning — seven SS-tier anchors, five S-tier specialists, the meta team comps, and the v1.3 roster watch. If you want the squad-level view rather than the per-character one, the team tier list ranks every comp by content type. For pull planning, the v1.2 resource budget guide is the most useful next read, and the Umbral Monument guide covers the stages most of these comps were tuned against.