Typically, 6-star operators remain the strongest, but if you’re playing for free and the randomness doesn’t favor you, you’ll need to look for solid options among lower-rarity heroes to round out your squad and stay competitive. In this guide, we’ll focus on the characters that are almost 99% guaranteed to be assembled after a few spins, and we’ll explore which ones are easiest to use and which ones are truly worth investing in for further playthroughs.
The best free operational games
To assemble a strong team without spending a dime, it’s worth paying attention to several surprisingly powerful characters with a rarity of 5 or even 4 stars, who are quite capable of fighting on equal terms with any enemy in Arknights: Endfield.
Whether it’s versatility and the ability to fit into any team, support, defense, or outright brute force, below are some of the best Operators you can get simply by spinning any banner.
Akekuri (Vanguard/Heat)
Akekuri is a true master of SP recovery, especially early in the game. This SP recovery becomes especially useful after unlocking Potential 1, as it grants her a 10% attack bonus, which can stack up to five times each time she restores SP with a combat skill.
The passive attack boost for just one additional copy of the Operator is a great advantage, as you’ll quickly have more than one copy of Akekuri. By the time you unlock Level 3 of Potential, she’ll provide the same 10% attack bonus to the entire team, making her an ideal choice for any physical damage-dealing team with an open slot.
She also deals Heat damage and inflicts Heat damage, making her a great partner with Antal and other characters, such as Wulfgard.
Antal
Antal’s strength lies in the fact that he not only provides the entire team with a boost from electricity but also from heat. While there aren’t many “electric” operators in the game, you can assemble a powerful team with heat damage that will take full advantage of the heat damage boost, making Antal easily fit into several lineups. This also applies to Akekuri, mentioned above.
Add to this his ability to heal a buffed ally after they deal buffed damage, and it becomes clear how useful his ultimate is.
When his Potential is upgraded, he begins to return SP, which is quite easy to do, and also causes explosions of electrical damage to enemies affected by physical conditions or arts. Thanks to his abundance of buffs and enhancements, Antal is one of the key free-to-play characters in the game.
Ardelia
Ardelia is effectively considered a free character, as you’ll receive her as a reward for logging in for a few days, despite being a 6-star Operator. She’s the primary, “standard” healer in Arknights: Endfield, and her combo skill allows her to buff her team and debuff enemies.
Ardelia can apply Corrosion, causing enemies to lose resistance to all elemental elements in the game. This versatile debuff makes her a versatile addition to any team, allowing all allies to deal increased damage while applying Corrosion quite easily.
While you’re unlikely to significantly increase her Potency in the free-to-play format, her healing spells remain extremely reliable and useful throughout the game, even at minimum levels. There’s simply no reason not to use this free 6-star operator.
Chen Qianyu
Chen Qianyu is a great addition to any physical team, and like Ardelia, she’s free. She easily inflicts vulnerability on enemies, thereby activating her own combo skill.
The additional vulnerability stacks from her combo skill affect all enemies within the dash’s range, creating a nice AoE vulnerability effect.
While she excels against physical damage dealers, she’s actually quite strong for a free-to-play operator in this role.
Administrator
The Administrator is an obvious choice, as the main character will be the team’s strongest DPS for a significant portion of the game, so playing them is definitely worth it. This is another character that fits easily into almost any build and, with the right gear, deals the highest physical damage.
His talent increases attack power by 15% for 15 seconds and increases physical damage taken by enemies by 10% – both effects increase as the talent is leveled .
A simple combo skill that triggers most often without any specific conditions, additional physical damage after its activation, and several buffs and debuffs make the Administrator one of the strongest options among free operators.
Perlik
Perlika is a strong and useful early-game character, primarily due to her ability to quickly stagger enemies and the extremely simple activation of her combo skill. To activate it, she only needs the target to perform the final hit (the final hit of her basic combo), after which she immediately triggers her combo skill and inflicts Electrify.
Although Perlika deals electrical damage, her electrification effect causes enemies to take increased damage from arts, benefiting all casters on your team. Her talent, Annihilation Protocol, increases damage dealt to stunned enemies by 20%.
Unlocking Potential 1 increases the duration of the electrification, and reaching Potential 3 grants Perlika a short, stackable 20% attack bonus. She’s incredibly easy to use, helps activate her combo skill more often, and boosts the damage of her entire team’s arts, making her a truly powerful ally.