Honestly feels like all of the 6 stars that accompany a limited 6 star always feels slightly more useful i.e. with Weedy being an absolute unit of a pusher specialist and Mudrock being Hellagur but buffer, tankier, and can block more enemies.

Was Aak better than Nian?

Debatable. However, Aak is relatively more unique in his usefulness in contrast to Nian who can be replaced by any other Defender. Nian's unique uses are increasing block count (very niche) and being a more expensive Gravel (since her talent lets her nullify the damage from 3 attacks). The latter has use for high level CC in blocking certain dangerous enemies. Meanwhile Aak is a great buffing unit since he boosts damage and attack speed. No other unit can do this. The skill cool down and duration also gives the skill good uptime so it's quite spammable. Can even be combo'd with Liskarm. That said, one must take into account the friendly fire damage and so not every unit can benefit from it (unless Shining is used). He also needs to be aimed so he buffs the right unit. Also, in terms of raw attack boost, Warfarin is better but aiming her is arguably more tedious. But buffs can stack so having the buff army Aak, Warfarin and Sora can lead to some meme damage numbers. However, Nian being a defender at her most basic means she can be brought into any stage. Aak would require more planning and one doesn't necessarily need buffing units every time.

Tldr: They're both niche. I just think Nian is more replaceable than Aak but Nian has more general use.

Also I forgot to mention, I really need to read up on AK lore/setting, because I was kinda getting lost with entire Sarkaz culture and politics. Also also I need to make a confession, I never ended up reading any of old events or even ones I already played... I bet if I actually read Wolumonde, I'd be hyped for Mudrock as well. She looks interesting gameplay wise though. I really like self-sustaining operators.

Found this channel with videos of the Arknights story scenes. You can also read the stories ingame via the Archives tho it seems Darknights hasn't been added yet. I guess it will be added after the Darknights shop is gone too.

Nice list of E2s there and congrats on the medal. Dunno if mastery 3 is needed with Blaze's skill 2 but man she's really broken. She's useful throughout Chapter 7. Btw, Amiya still needs help from a couple of mines to beat Patriot's first phase. I actually forgot he has some time of invulnerability at the start of his 2nd phase. Had to revise my strat so Amiya defeats his 1st phase earlier and then his invul will run out just as he steps on the killzone: Suzuran + Saria + Ceobe wombo combo. He still managed to get two spear throws out so RIP Jessica and 12F. Dodges didn't proc so they dead.

Gotta say Patriot's death hit me harder than FrostNova. Parents who outlive their children are just a direct hit to the feels for me especially since it happened TWICE to Patriot. Possibly more with his long life? That prophecy tho. I'm hyped for when we get there. Then Theresis makes an appearance. Seems they're planning something with Amiya or rather with Theresa's body? This is me speculating now but seems Theresa's power is in Amiya... or perhaps more?

I can't believe it. Pot 5 W lol.

W's theme Renegade is now out on the official Youtube channel.

And on CN they revealed new 6 star sniper Archetto, a griffin which has an interesting talent of charging Offensive SP for Sniper skills similar to Ch'en's talent which makes me wonder if they stack.

random posted:

I mean tbf the Arknights world-setting in general - or at least the parts we get to see onscreen - is pretty much a Triple-Shot Depresso with a large topping of Bleak.

That is... surprisingly aptly way to put it...

I like Rosmontis so far. If they'd ever add her, I'd actually roll for her. Also I just cleared 7-2 and now I can get behind Ch'en. She finally felt human to me.

Well good news then! She's the next limited operator and Murdock is the one who's gonna be on the same banner like with Weedy.

I'm hoping unlike this time I get the non-limited one earlier cause now I'm at 3 Ws, 0 Weedy tho I'm also 24 rolls away from 300 so might as well just buy Weedy I guess. Tho admittedly the story is making me like Rosmontis enough to want her. Arknights seems to be good at having a preceding event/story hype up a character before releasing said character as an op like with W. I do want to note that the Rosmontis/Mudrock banner will likely be sooner than later. That banner comes with chapter 8 and has new mats. Yostar cannot afford to delay this banner with newer CN banners without providing the new mats. For example, Mountain and his banner cannot be set before ch 8 cause we wouldn't be able to promote them. The only content we have left before ch 8 are CC#2, Thorns, Eunectes, Blemishine, Surtr and CC#3 which are like 3 or 4 months of content. I suppose they could pad it out a bit more with Code of Brawl rerun and/or Operational Intelligence rerun. Btw due to the order of events in EN, wouldn't it make sense for us to get Operational Intelligence rerun before Summer Event rerun?

More art to share: Skadi x Specter compilation, Saria and Silence welcoming the New Year, Blaze cuddling with Amiya

Also I forgot to mention, but I'm not sure how much I like the fact that Talulah isn't really herself anymore and instead is controlled by someone else destroying and using Reunion. Like I actually got behind the idea that Reunion is actually kinda the good guys and they were successful in raising and uniting Infected, but then Talulah got possessed and everything fucked up. Idk, gives kinda depressing message in already depressing word. That oppressed group will be always oppressed and used no matter what.

Unfortunately yeah, it is depressing. I mean Wolumonde already gave that vibe. In the end the Infected and their suffering were just used just so that Wolumonde will get noticed. With Reunion too, while initially a peaceful movement for Infected rights, turned violent by external forces Duke Kashchey for Ursus and then there's Theresis for Kazdel and it seems Victoria too.

Still at 7-6... damn this hits hard. They also specifically mention Rosmontis being 14. She's a 14 year old weapon of mass destruction. Also Warfarin makes an appearance and brings up the "prophecy". Seems the translation uses Lord of Fiends instead of Demon King... making it gender neutral I guess. Seems Warfarin was particularly worried for Patriot and wanted him to join Rhodes Island. They know each other apparently and Kal knows him too.

last edited at Dec 31, 2020 1:34PM

Speaking of pre-amnesia doctor, in case anyone is doing the Chapter 7 stages, let me know if this quote actually happens. I really want it to be real lol

Just got to it. It actually happens earlier than I expected (at 7-6). I guess it is real lol.

Just to be sure but the young Cautus during the event was Amiya right?

Yep.

Happy New Year from the JP timezone. Hope everyone enjoys 2021 and mayhaps be a better year than 2020.

Yay, another person for the W fanclub~ This is probably a weird thing to like about her, but I actually really like how passive-aggressive she is towards the Doctor in her voice lines, what with her knowing what they were like pre-amnesia and all. Also, looking at her 150 trust archive files on Gamepress, I can see why some people ship her with Amiya

Yeah Darknights really adds more to her character. I had thought she was just a spy. Also, your post on Amiya x W really had me intrigued and triggered my fantheorizing. I actually want to look up her archives but I'm kinda adamant on unlocking them naturally.

Speaking of ch 7 story, I'm still early on but damn some details I didn't even know back when spoilers first came out from CN. Talulah's dad is Edward Artorius! Arthurian myth in Arknights?!. Also I know many HoshiChen shippers were sad from 7-2 to 7-3 but I have to be honest I really liked those chapters. I can't help but grin while reading them. Then at 7-4, it really does seem like Amiya was treating the Doc and Kal as her divorced parents for a moment there. Even better, a surprise ship: Nearl x Firewatch needs to be a thing. I like their interaction there.

An aside that kept bugging me - what species Ines is (was)? She's not a Sarkaz (as W liked to remind her) but there aren't all that many horned races around and she doesn't have the characteristic tail of the Vouivre, who'd otherwise look like the closest match.

Vouivre is also the guess I've seen but I have also seen Caprinae specifically from Leithanien due to her arts. Leithanien being known for its arts knowledge and Caprinae for their arts usage. This could explain why the tail is not so visible.

Any idea of what the next event might be? I was able to buy most of the shop from the current event.

There will be mini event on Jan. 2 (up to the 16th) where stages will drop supply boxes (contains a random material) and mini sanity potions worth 10 sanity. For "efficiency" people are saying to go rock hell (1-7) since having a chance to drop 10 sanity means one can basically farm that stage indefinitely. YMMV of course. I'm personally not planning to do that and will work on farming chips for future ops and mats for masteries.

As for anything beyond the 16th, there are guesses. CC is usually announced a month in advance which is why it can't be this January since nothing was announced in December. The announcement will probably be this January making February the likely month for CC#2. Other possibilities include Summer Event rerun so Thorns banner. Roguelike aka Summer Event part 2 was also datamined recently so that's another possibility. Yostar being (im)famous now for reordering stuff, anything could happen but those three are my guesses likely in this order: Summer Rerun -> Summer Event part 2 and Roguelike -> CC#2. Tho, best prepare to take into account extreme cases...

Anyway, here some art:

W getting headpats from Theresa like she always dreamed of

Saria x Silence

Schwarz x Ceylon in their younger days

Oxgirls welcoming the new girl, also year of the Ox soon

Congrats to everyone for their rolls. Especially those who got both W and Weedy. I'm wondering if I should keep going all out for Weedy lol. I already got two Ws and I'm at 233 rolls. 70 more and I could just buy Weedy. Not sure if I want to do that.

Obviously with W there is only one thing to do: use her to blow herself up. Also the references to Theresa are a lot more subtle than I expected. Her token is the only one that's really explicit about it. It's also a selfie which is cute tho my favorite is W's line about that door. That first meeting really had an impact on her. She also has this one line where she seems really pissed at Kal'tsit for letting Theresa die. I know they don't get along but I'm surprised they were able to negotiate to have W in Rhodes Island. It seems W really hates the (past) Doctor and Kal so I'm wondering what Kal offered that caused W to stay. Haven't unlocked the trust archives yet but the promotion archive does indicate Ines is alive and they're talking about how to deal with the "usurper". The way W refers to Theresis keeps reminding me of Game of Thrones lol.

Oh, apparently Silence got a new skin for CN and it's FREE. But the best part is she has a scarf that may have been a gift from Saria?

Thank you for coming home. Of course Elite 2 immediately. Glad she did come home after 118 rolls cause I wouldn't want the mats I saved up to be for naught.

I wonder if Ritsuka had a depressing moment on the bridge that Kozuka helped her snap out of it unknowingly. Still tho, that build up was unfortunately cut off by drama. Makes sense. Kozuka just doesn't want sex despite getting really turned on there. She wants to make love.

That was heartwarming. I'd like to think now that they know their feelings for each other, Ringo will just retire sooner to be with Kobayashi.

LET'S GO YUKA! Go claim your MILF.

Reversal too I think. Also I dunno if it's worthwhile to have Orgasm denial as a tag. Anyway seconding the kinky sex is hot but the whole cheating dynamic is not.

I didn't expect Ch'en to act like that in the anime short they did. If anything, I felt like Ch'en and Hoshiguma's personalities felt like they were swapped, but I'd rather believe it's just another aspect we don't see represented in their character files.

With that in mind, it really makes me hope we get more of these specials that showcase more of the characters' personalities.

I'm not even sure if it can be considered canon specifically when it happens in the timeline. Cannot be during ch 4-8 and even after that. I don't think there's a break between those story chapters since the events there happen immediately after each other. Then we know Ch'en is no longer part of the LGD after ch 8 and Hoshi takes her position instead. Maybe sometime between ch 3 and 4? Tho it doesn't make sense in tone imo since Amiya was just dealing with the death of Misha. Not that it matters I think. Special moments like this, as you said, shows more of the characters that we don't often see so it's nice to have anyway.

Something neat I saw for the Chinese server is that there's going to be a new Vanguard archetype that's limited to ranged tiles. The first one is a 4-star operator called Beanstalk; I like her little plant-crab things.

Those plant crab things are indeed adorable and she's the same race as Spot. The second Hyena for Arknights, and the first female one. More importantly, first for her archetype. Really interesting. I wonder if this means banning melee tiles in future CCs XD

I found the anime I mentioned. It’s called Holy Knight Light and is about 10 minutes long. No subtitles unfortunately.

Subs are up on the official EN channel. Hearing Ch'en laugh gives me life and Tsuda Kenjiro (Seto Kaiba) as The Emperor is just the best.

last edited at Dec 25, 2020 7:09AM

I jokingly nominate we get this tag Exactly what it says on the tin. Can't be too upset with the characters just being accurate to the title. I still cried a big NO at page 20.

So I just saw the translation for the W x Amiya comic that Norainhere shared here (saw the translation in danbooru btw). That page of W getting a glimpse of Theresa while looking at Amiya with her hair down and then Amiya claiming that W's real feelings are obvious. It inspired me to look for W x Theresa and W x Amiya in lofter. The former (W特 or 特w) is really filled with angst as expected of a ship with a dead character. Examples: W with a precious photograph, "Up There", was just a dream. Happier art does exist like this cute smooch and this fangirling moment. As for W x Amiya (tag is w娅), yeah there really isn't a lot of it. It does feel more like a crack ship unless one really believes in a theory connecting Amiya and Theresa causing art like this where W sees Theresa in Amiya. Oh for W x Ines shippers, their tags are 伊W and w伊.

I thought it was going to be comedic. I wasn't expecting the sudden feels. That Patchy smile tho. Worth it I guess?

Taiyaki approves.

Gross groping.

Wow! A rare Texas x Sora in a sea of Texas x Lappland and Texas x Exusia.

That moment Hino looked at Koguma... She really is in love and thirsty as fuck.