Arknights: Endfield is not a tower defense game like the original Arknights. It is a free-to-play 3D action RPG from Hypergryph, published worldwide by Gryphline, that launched on January 22, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, iOS and Android. You play the Endministrator of Endfield Industries on Talos-II, and the game splits your time between two things: real-time squad combat and an automated factory called the AIC. The live version at the time of writing is 1.5, which released on September 2, 2026.
This guide covers the systems a new account runs into first, and where the early resources are best spent.
How combat actually works
You field a squad of up to four operators. You control one directly and the other three fight on their own, but you can trigger their abilities yourself at any time. Four terms carry most of the system:
- SP (Skill Points) is a pool shared by the whole squad. Battle Skills have no cooldown but spend SP, so every cast is a choice about which operator gets it.
- Final Strike is the last hit of a basic attack sequence. It restores SP and builds the enemy's Stagger meter.
- Combo Skills cost no SP. Each operator has their own trigger condition, and the skill goes on cooldown after use.
- Ultimates run on their own energy gauge, which fills as you use Battle Skills and Combo Skills.
The loop to learn is Stagger. Heavy hits fill the bar under an enemy's HP; once it is full the enemy is Staggered, cannot move and takes much more damage. A basic attack on a Staggered enemy becomes a Finisher, which hits hard and gives SP back.
Damage comes in Physical and four Arts elements: Heat, Electric, Cryo and Nature. Elements interact through Arts Reactions, which is why OutputLag's beginner guide recommends pairing operators of different elements deliberately.
The story hands you a working squad without any pulls. The Endministrator, Perlica and Chen Qianyu all come from progression, and the established beginner guides build their starter teams around them.
Authority Level and Sanity: the two clocks
Authority Level is your account level, raised by earning Operational EXP. It matters because main story missions are gated behind it, so at certain points the story stops until your level catches up. The maximum is Authority Level 60. Operational EXP comes from main and side missions, exploration, daily tasks and Protocol Spaces.
Sanity is the stamina resource. The numbers are worth knowing:
- It regenerates 1 point every 7 minutes 12 seconds, which is 200 per day.
- The cap starts at 125 and rises with Authority Level, up to 360 at level 60.
- It stops regenerating at the cap, so a full bar is lost income.
Sanity is spent mainly in Protocol Spaces, repeatable stages that pay out operator growth materials. Game8's beginner guide recommends putting it into the Promotions and Operator EXP Protocol Spaces first, then skill and weapon materials later. Since Protocol Spaces are also the fastest repeatable source of Operational EXP, spending Sanity pushes both clocks at once.
Operators level up to 90, with promotions along the way that cost T-Creds and materials. Guides agree on the order: operator levels first, then skills, then weapons, and on a small core squad before anyone else.
The AIC Factory is half the game
AIC stands for Automated Industry Complex. It is a real factory-building layer, not a menu of timers: you place Mining Rigs on ore, feed them through processing facilities over Transport Belts, power the network with Thermal Banks, and route everything back to the PAC, the central hub, and its Depot.
What it means for a new player:
- Automate early. Electric Mining Rigs remove the need to collect ore by hand, and the factory keeps producing while you do other things.
- Gear is crafted, not farmed. Gear comes out of the factory chain, and a set bonus activates with three matching pieces.
- Use blueprints. The game lets players save and share factory layouts as blueprints, so you can import a proven layout and learn from it.
- Mind the region. Valley IV and Wuling each have their own factory setup, their own Stock Bills currency and a Regional Development Level to raise. Upgrading Outposts is how guides recommend earning Stock Bills.
Pulls: the rules before you spend Oroberyl
Character pulls cost 500 Oroberyl each, 5,000 for ten. There are three character banner types:
- New Horizons Headhunting, the beginner banner, guarantees a standard 6-star after a fixed number of pulls. Community guides do not agree on that number and we found no official notice stating it, so check the banner's in-game details. Guides consistently call it the first place to spend.
- Basic Headhunting, the permanent banner, guarantees a 6-star within 80 pulls and gives a one-time 6-star selector at 300.
- Chartered Headhunting is the limited banner, and it has the rules that catch people out.
On Chartered Headhunting the base 6-star rate is 0.8%. From pull 65 the rate climbs by 5% per pull, and pull 80 is a guaranteed 6-star, but only a 50/50 to be the featured operator. The featured operator is guaranteed once at 120 pulls, which is 60,000 Oroberyl.
The detail that matters: the 80-pull counter carries over to the next limited banner, but the 120-pull guarantee does not. It resets when the banner ends. That is where the community rule comes from: do not start on a limited banner unless you can reach 120.
Weapons use a separate currency. Every character pull pays out Arsenal Tickets (2,000 for a 6-star, 200 for a 5-star, 20 for a 4-star), and the weapon banner is pulled ten at a time with those tickets. It guarantees a 6-star weapon within four ten-pulls and the featured weapon within eight.
Where to start
Push the main story until the AIC unlocks, automate your mining, and keep Sanity off its cap by running Protocol Spaces for promotion and EXP materials. Invest in one squad of four. Take the New Horizons guarantee, then leave Oroberyl alone until you can afford 120 pulls on a limited operator you want.
About this guide: it is compiled from official material and established community guides, not from first-hand playtime. Sources: the official Steam store page and Gematsu's launch coverage (genre, platforms, release), Wikipedia, and the Game8, GameWith, Fextralife, PowerPyx, OutputLag, EndfieldHub, AllThings.How and arknightsendfield.wiki guides for systems, numbers and version 1.5. Details can change with later patches.
