Table of Contents
Starting out in Arknights Endfield can feel pretty overwhelming. This game throws a lot at you right from the start, from combat that needs quick thinking, team building that actually matters, to even factory stuff you need to manage. But don't worry, once you get the hang of the basics, everything starts to click.
This guide will walk you through the most important things you need to know as a new player. We're talking movement tricks, how to build teams that actually work, and what gear you should focus on. Let's jump in.
-This guide is still a work in progress-
Exploration and Resource
First, let's talk about moving around and gathering materials, because the game explains this poorly.
Movement Tricks
Regular jumping kind of sucks in this game. You want to dash right before you jump, this gives you way more distance. You'll need this for reaching platforms and crossing gaps.
Sometimes, resources are high up, and you can't simply jump to get them. Do an attack while you're in the air, and the animation pushes you up just enough to grab it.
The Gathering System
Your AI teammates will grab resources for you, but only after you've picked up that item type once yourself. So make it a habit, every time you see something new, grab it yourself first. After that, your team handles it automatically. They'll also grab enemy drops and help with base stuff. Pretty handy once it's set up.
Mining the Smart Way
You start with Portable Originium Rigs. These work, but they're annoying; you place them, they fill up fast, and you're constantly running back to empty them. Get Electric Mining Rigs as soon as you can. Set up a Relay Tower and some Electric Pylons to power them, and the ores go straight to your storage automatically. This is a huge time saver.
Why Your Team Comp Actually Matters
Let's start with something that trips up most new players: team building. You can't just throw your favorite operators together and expect things to work. The damage system in this game has real depth to it.
The Arts Approach
The Arts team composition is where you focus more on elemental attacks. You're either stacking the same element for big burst damage, or you're mixing different elements to mess with enemies.
When you stack the same Arts type together (say, two Cryo attacks), you get an Arts Burst. This is just raw damage, straightforward yet deadly. But when you mix different Arts types (like Cryo with Heat), you get an Arts Reaction. This is where the fun stuff happens: enemies get frozen, shocked, or hit with damage over time.
The game has four Arts types to play with:
- Heat makes things burn (Combustion)
- Cryo freezes stuff (Solidification)
- Electric shocks enemies (Electrification)
- Nature eats away at them (Corrosion)
You can read more about Arts in our Elemental guide.
The Physical Approach
Physical teams work completely different. You're setting up enemies for one big hit instead of chaining reactions. The game plan is simple: mark enemies with Vulnerable, make it worse by knocking them around, then cash it all in with a finishing move.
Here's the breakdown:
- Knock enemies up (Lift) or down (Knock Down) to make them more Vulnerable
- Then use Crush or Breach attacks to spend all those Vulnerable stacks at once for huge damage
Some tougher enemies have a Stagger meter you need to watch. Fill it up enough, and they'll be stunned in place for a few seconds. That's your opening to go all out.
Combat Tips That'll Save Your Life
Now let's talk about actually fighting, because there's stuff here the tutorial never mentions.
The Heavy Attack Problem
Every character has a Heavy Attack that comes out after 4 or 5 normal hits. These deal good damage, but the animation is quite long, which sometimes turns into a problem for you.
You can deal with this problem with an animation cancel. Right when your Heavy Attack connects, dodge or use a skill. You keep the damage, but skip the part where you're standing around doing nothing.
Keep practicing until it’s in your muscle memory, and you’ll have smoother combat movements along the way.
Using All Four Characters at Once
You don't need to swap to a character to use their skills. While you're controlling your main damage dealer, just press another character's skill button. They'll use it from the background while you keep attacking. This is how you actually use your whole team effectively.
All four characters share the same pool of 3 Skill Points. They recharge slowly over time, but you get them faster from perfect dodges and heavy attacks.
- Battle Skills eat one SP, but you can use them back-to-back if you have the points.
- Combo Skills don't cost SP, but they need something to trigger them, like an enemy being frozen or knocked down. They also have cooldowns.
- Ultimates need full energy, simple as that.
The smart play is setting things up. Use a skill that freezes an enemy, then swap to someone whose Combo Skill triggers on frozen enemies. Keep this chain going, and you'll multiply your damage.
What to Know About Gear
Most new players overthink gear. They see set bonuses and think that's what matters. It's not.
Priority One: Get the Right Stats
Match your gear to what your character scales with - STR, AGI, INT, or WILL. Main stats, especially. Two main stats are worth about five sub stats in value. This beats everything else.
Priority Two: Skill Damage Boosts
After you've got the right stats, look for percentage boosts that match how your character deals damage. If their main damage comes from Battle Skills, you want "Battle Skill DMG Bonus" on your gear.
Priority Three: Set Bonuses
Set bonuses are great, but they're the last thing to worry about. They only really matter in the endgame when you're running Level 70 gear anyway, where you need to min-max everything.
Understanding the Gacha System
The gacha has a few different banners and they all work differently.
- New Horizons is your beginner banner. Costs 40 pulls total, guarantees a 6-star, and gives you a weapon selector at the end. Uses special tickets.
- Basic Headhunting is standard stuff. 6-star every 80 pulls guaranteed. After 300 total pulls across all time, you can pick any specific 6-star you want.
- Chartered Banner is where featured characters show up. You get a 6-star every 80 pulls, but it's only 50/50 whether it's the featured one. Miss that 50/50? Your next 6-star is guaranteed to be the featured character. That means worst case scenario, you hit hard pity at 120 pulls. As of now, pity doesn't carry between banners.
- Arsenal Exchange handles weapons. You get tickets from pulling on character banners. Every 4 pulls guarantees a 6-star weapon (25% chance it's featured). At 8 attempts, you're guaranteed the featured weapon. You can also just buy specific weapons directly if you want.
Wrapping Up
Arknights Endfield throws a lot at you early on. But you don't need to master everything at once. Start by building a team around one damage type, either Arts or Physical. Learn how to cancel those Heavy Attack animations so you're not getting hit for free. Don't stress about gear set bonuses until way later.
The most important thing? Just pick up every new resource you see at least once so your AI team can handle it afterward. This will help you a lot. Make a habit of picking up new things.
Take it one system at a time, and you'll be fine. The combat actually feels really good once you get the rhythm down. Good luck out there, Endministrator!
